Rhett Butler

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Founder of Mongabay.

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1016 stories
Sunrise over the Amazon. Image by Rhett Ayers Butler

Why is rainfall declining in the Amazon? New research says deforestation is the leading driver

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Sep 2025
Marc Stalmans. Courtesy of the Gorongosa Project

Marc Stalmans, ecologist who helped restore Gorongosa’s wildlife, dies at 66

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Aug 2025
Donovan Kirkwoord, Curator of the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden. Image courtesy of the Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden.

Donovan Kirkwood, protector of South Africa’s rarest plants, dies aged 54 in search for one of the world’s most endangered species

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Aug 2025
Redwood forest in the San Francisco Bay Area in August 2025. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Ecosystems as infrastructure: Tim Christophersen on how to rebuild humanity’s ties to nature

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Aug 2025
Rainbow over Jambi, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

How can we make nature’s wellbeing impossible to ignore? For Natalie Kyriacou, it is the defining challenge

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Aug 2025
Augustin K. Basabose. Image by Allison Shelley for Wild Earth Allies

In eastern Congo’s war-torn forests, Augustin Basabose gave hope to gorillas and people

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Aug 2025
Leopard shark. Photo by Alex Kydd.

Can we undo extinction? A growing effort to restore lost sharks

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Aug 2025
Rainbow over the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

People on nature’s frontlines aren’t waiting for miracles, says author Alan Weisman

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Aug 2025
Lúcio Flávio Pinto

Lúcio Flávio Pinto: The Brazilian reporter who wouldn’t be bought or silenced

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Aug 2025
Torres in the Amazon in 2024. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

She built a newsroom across 7 countries—Here’s how she did it

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Aug 2025
Devils Hole pupfish in the Ash Meadows Fish Conservation Facility. Photo by Olin Feuerbacher/USFWS

Devils Hole pupfish hit by micro-tsunami from 8.8-magnitude Russian earthquake

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Aug 2025
Hoatzin in Peru. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

We need a revolution in environmental communications (commentary)

Enrique Ortiz 1 Aug 2025
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, is just one region where fires are burned throughout Russia in 2020. Image by Greenpeace International.

Drone swarms and AI take aim at stopping wildfires in 10 minutes

Mongabay.com 31 Jul 2025
Mobula munkiana rays in the Sea of Cortez. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler / Mongabay

Guarding Mexico’s blue frontiers: A conversation with Alejandro González

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jul 2025
Coral reef in the Sea of Cortez. Photo courtesy of Legacy Works.

Forget decrees; try patience. Martin Goebel plays the long game in conserving Baja California Sur

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jul 2025
Hamid Moradi. Photo courtesy of the Hengaw Organization for Human Rights.

Hamid Moradi, died on July 25th after battling a forest fire in Iranian Kurdistan, aged 36

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jul 2025
Butterfly on a man's hand in Madre de Dios

Peruvian rainforest defender shot dead in suspected targeted killing

Mongabay.com 29 Jul 2025
An adult female kākāpō (Strigops habroptila) in a tree at night. Kākāpō are nocturnal and flightless. Image by Andrew Digby/New Zealand Department of Conservation.

World Nature Conservation Day: How a large, flightless parrot rebounded from the verge of extinction

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Jul 2025
Left: Ranger Claude, photographed by Brent Stirton. Right: Ranger Daniel, photographed by Virunga National Park.

Two rangers killed in a plane crash in DRC’s Virunga National Park

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jul 2025
Akana at Nyungwe National Park in southern Rwanda. While the park is best known for its chimpanzees, as well as owl-faced and colobus monkeys, the canopy walkway offers a unique vantage point over the valley and surrounding forests. Photo by Kuimo Donald.

From sports desk to nature’s frontlines: David Akana’s unlikely path to lead Mongabay Africa

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jul 2025

James ‘Buddy’ Powell, defender of manatees, died on July 19, aged 70

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jul 2025
Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

From deforestation to renewal: Why reforestation isn’t just about trees

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jul 2025
An ocelot (Leopardus pardalis) in the Peruvian Amazonian rainforest (Cocha Cashu Biological Station), recorded through camera trapping. Photo credit: Fortunato Rayan.

Videos capture an unlikely alliance between ocelots and opossums in the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Jul 2025
Dr. Sheila Colla receiving the 2023 Education Award from Nature Ontario. Courtesy of Nature Ontari

Sheila Colla, advocate for bees, died on July 6th, aged 43

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

Vatsala, Asia’s oldest known elephant, died on July 8th, 2025, aged around 100

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

WWF rethinks conservation after a crisis of its own making

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jul 2025
Mark Erdmann releasing a thresher shark. Photo courtesy of Mark Erdmann.

Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jul 2025
Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Nearly three-quarters of solar and wind projects are being built in China

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jul 2025
Roberto Zolho. From his Facebook page

Roberto Zolho, conservationist who helped restore Mozambique’s wildlife following its civil war, has died at 65.

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jul 2025
King penguin in Antarctica. Photo by N Butler / Mongabay

Antarctic coalition wins €1m prize for safeguarding a fragile frontier

Mongabay.com 9 Jul 2025
African elephant in Namibia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Can conservation go viral in Africa? Peter Knights thinks so.

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2025
jaguar

Jaguar population doubles around Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls 

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jul 2025

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Yo Yaj at Songkhla Lake, Thailand
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Mona Khalil in 2002 at in Tyre. Photo by Jihad Seqlawi/AFP/Getty Images
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