Rhett Ayers Butler

Rhett Ayers Butler

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About

Rhett Butler is the founder and CEO of Mongabay.

Rhett founded Mongabay out of his passion for wildlife and wild places.

He has traveled widely in the tropics and enjoys photography, hiking, and scuba-diving.

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Some background on Mongabay's origin:

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1855 stories
Patchwork of cassava fields, regenerating secondary forest, and natural forest in the Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Young secondary forests may be the planet’s most overlooked carbon sink

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2025
A community member catching fish in the Fluvial Star of Inírida, where the Guaviare, Atabapo and Inírida rivers meet. Image courtesy of Camilo Díaz for WWF Colombia.

The guardians of the Amazon who work without pay — or fear

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Jul 2025
Sandhya Sekar in Kerala, India in 2025; Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

From intern to Mongabay India director in less than 4 years: Sandhya Sekar’s journey

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jul 2025
jaguar

Jaguar population doubles around Brazil’s Iguaçu Falls 

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jul 2025

Indigenous communities left in the dark on carbon scheme on their land

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jul 2025
A member of the Indigenous Tikuna nation paddling a dugout canoe on a tributary of the Amazon in Colombia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

The cost of conservation without consent: Astrid Puentes on rights-based environmentalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jun 2025
Mikayla Raines. Photo courtesy of Save a Fox Rescue

Mikayla Raines, YouTuber who rescued unwanted foxes, died on June 20th, aged 30

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jun 2025
Locals pass wild elephants on a farmland in northeastern Bangladesh.

Bangladesh plans new reserve for trapped elephants

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Jun 2025

Author Kim Stanley Robinson on climate fiction & navigating the climate crisis

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jun 2025
Pangolins curl into a ball as part of their self-defense, with scales acting as armor to protect their body. The WJC report estimates that the 370 tons of pangolin scales seized between 2015 and 2024 represent between 100,000 and a million pangolins.

The illegal trade in ivory and pangolin scales has fallen sharply since COVID-19. But for how long?

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jun 2025
Stefanie Brendl free diving with sharks. Photo by Phil Waller

What sharks are worth—and why that matters

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Jun 2025
A river in the Amazon rainforest interior of Suriname. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler.

Half a million hectares of rainforest were saved — in part thanks to journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Jun 2025
Maruti Chitampalli. Screenshot courtesy of Wildlife of Vidarbha

Maruti Bhujangrao Chitampalli, sage of the forest, died on June 18th, aged 93

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jun 2025

Rediscovering the biodiversity of India’s Siang Valley

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

On World Rainforest Day, the world confronts an unprecedented wave of tropical forest loss

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jun 2025

World Rainforest Day and the state of Earth’s most vital rainforests

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jun 2025
Ridzki in Jambi in 2022. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

How Mongabay Indonesia grew into a trusted environmental voice

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jun 2025
Split shot in the waters of San Benedicto, Mexico. Credit: Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas

The ocean is in crisis. A new effort is betting on coastal communities to save it.

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Jun 2025
Udzungwa endemic Sanje mangabey. Image courtesy Trevor Jones.

Protecting Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains means putting communities at the center of conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Jun 2025

Rwanda’s crowned cranes make a remarkable comeback

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
The elkhorn coral that comprises most of the Cocalito reef used to be one of the most dominant coral species in the Caribbean.

The reef that shouldn’t exist

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
Shiloh Schulte

Shiloh Schulte, conservationist who helped the American Oystercatcher recover, died in a helicopter crash on June 4th, aged 46

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2025

The Yurok tribe have reclaimed Blue Creek, 138 years after it was taken from them

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
Dami Tateburuk sits in the Malinggai Uma Tradisional Mentawai house.

Mentawai’s primates are vanishing. One hunter is trying to save them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
M Marika. Courtesy of the Rirratjiŋu Aboriginal Corporation

M Marika, custodian of Yolŋu land and culture, died on June 4th, aged 64

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
Dendrelaphis melanarkys or black net tree snake. Photo by Fred Kraus.

Four new snake species discovered in Papua New Guinea

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2025
Greenpeace Brazil conducted an aerial survey in southern Amazonas and northern Rondônia to monitor deforestation and fires in July 2024. Photo © Marizilda Cruppe / Greenpeace.

Climate strikes the Amazon, undermining protection efforts

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2025
A Bornean orangutan. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

A new report lists the world’s 25 most endangered primates. Most people have never heard of them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jun 2025

What does it take to expose 67 illegal airstrips in the Amazon? A year of reporting — and the trust of local communities

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jun 2025
Derek Pomeroy. Photo by Andrew Plumptre

Derek Pomeroy, a leading figure in Ugandan ornithology died on May 29th, aged 90

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 May 2025
Valmik Thapar. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters

Valmik Thapar, India’s tiger man, died on May 31st, aged 73

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 May 2025

Hero rats among the global anti-poaching efforts affected by U.S. funding cuts

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 May 2025

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Young activists risk all to defend Cambodia’s environment
Videos
Paddle boarders over a coral reef in Indonesia.
Articles
Beach on Mioskon Island in Raja Ampat. Photo by Rhett Bulter/Mongabay.
Podcasts

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