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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1896 stories
John Landsiedel. Image from his social media.

John Landsiedel, Alaska wildlife biologist and pilot, died on July 25, aged 33

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Aug 2025
Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua at work. Image from his social media.

Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua, water bearer to Tsavo’s wild, died June 18, 2024, aged 51

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Aug 2025
Shark meat on sale in Brazil is labeled as “cação,” a generic term whose true meaning is unknown to most Brazilians, surveys show.

Brazil’s shark meat problem

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 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
Dang Dinh Bach speaking.

Dang Dinh Bach: He fought for clean air. Now he breathes through bars.

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Aug 2025
A full-circle rainbow arcing over a vast oil palm plantation in Jambi, Indonesia, carved out of what was once native rainforest. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

The case for hope in environmental journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Aug 2025
Rex Mann. Image courtesy of the American Chestnut Foundation.

Rex Mann, American chestnut evangelist, died July 2, aged 81

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Aug 2025
Ed McNabb. Image courtesy of the Australia Wildlife Sound Recording Group (AWSRG).

Edward McNabb, pioneer of conservation bioacoustics died on May 7, aged 81

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Aug 2025
Lúcio Flávio Pinto

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

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Aug 2025
Paul-Loiselle at the New York Aquarium. Image courtesy of Julie Larsen/Wildlife Conservation Society.

Paul V. Loiselle, champion of cichlids, died April 15, aged 79

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
Jayantha Jayewardene. Image from The history of Ceylon tea.

Jayantha Jayewardene, Sri Lanka’s elephant advocate, died July 30, aged 81

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Aug 2025
The critically endangered lemur leaf frog (Agalychnis lemur), found in Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Requiem for the nearly lost

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 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
The Amazon Rainforest in Brazil. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Community patrolling reduced environmental crime by 80% in the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Aug 2025
John Robbins in his 70s. Image courtesy of the Food Revolution Network.

John Robbins, heir to an ice cream empire who chose a life of principle, dies at 77

Rhett Ayers Butler 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
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
Sharon Haussmann,. Image courtesy of Greater Kruger Environmental Protection Foundation.

Sharon Haussmann, guardian of rhinos, died on May 31, aged 51

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 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
A mangrove forest in the Raja Ampat archipelago in Indonesia.

How much does it cost to restore a mangrove forest?

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jul 2025
Rain over a tropical island in the South Pacific in April 2025. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Conservation’s silent strain: Nature’s protectors face a mental health crisis

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 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
Ly Chandaravuth, Mother Nature Cambodia activist. Image © Andy Ball.

The price of protecting what’s left in Cambodia

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Jul 2025
Cnemaspis nilgala is a gecko that is found only in the rocky outcrop of Nilgala and is named after this unique habitat. Image courtesy of Suranjan Karunarathne.

Sri Lanka grants protection to a rare ecosystem

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jul 2025
Marlyse hiking in the heart of the Lobéké National Park, south-east Cameroon. Image by Yannick Kenné for Mongabay.

How one woman rose from porter to conservation leader

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Jul 2025

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Chrome Hill in Yorkshire, England. Image by Tim Hill via Pixabay (Pixabay free content license).
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