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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2100 stories
Coral reef, Tioman Island

Malaysia lost 20% of its coral reefs in three years

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026
Dave Collins holds a Yellow-bellied Slider (Trachemys scripta), a local turtle whose populations are doing just fine in the Eastern US. Photo by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.

A last refuge for turtles on the brink

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Feb 2026

What the forest reveals from above

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Feb 2026
Rainforest in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler.

Getting forest restoration right

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Feb 2026

Inside Mongabay with Isabel Esterman and the long arc of environmental reporting

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Feb 2026
Fire in Humaitá, Amazonas state, Brazil in August 2022. Photo © Christian Braga / Greenpeace

When nature becomes a security risk

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Feb 2026
Division in April 2023/04/09. Photo credit: New England Aquarium

Division’s final journey

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Feb 2026
Journalist Christ Belseran with traditional leaders of the Upau Tribe who inhabit the South Seram region, Central Maluku Regency, Maluku. Photo courtesy of titastory.id

Christ Jacob Belseran wins the Oktovianus Pogau Award for courage in journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 31 Jan 2026
Redwood forest in Big Basin, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

On Mongabay’s legacy

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Jan 2026

Australia’s land-use squeeze

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Jan 2026
Tapir in Brazil. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Brazil sets out its strategy for nature

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Jan 2026

Tree spirits: The unintended ecology of belief

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jan 2026

José Zanardini, the priest who tried to reconcile faith and Indigenous autonomy

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jan 2026
Kirtida Mekani. Photo courtesy of Singapore Women’s Hall of Fame

Kirtida Mekani, Singapore’s tree lady, has died, aged 66

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jan 2026
An Indigenous Tikuna man in the Amazon Rainforest in Colombia. Some researchers oppose the idea that human cultures would have been limited and determined by the environment, and that supports the notion that human cultures have modified the environment as desired. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

What it will take to protect the Amazon, according to Virgilio Viana

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jan 2026
Southern right whales in South Africa. Photo credit: Rhett A. Butler

Making 60% of the ocean manageable (Commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jan 2026
Francis Hallé. Photo by Thomas Samson / AFP

Francis Hallé, the botanist who took a raft into the rainforest canopy

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Jan 2026

Brazil bets reducing poverty can protect the Amazon

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jan 2026

A new treaty comes into force to govern life on the high seas

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jan 2026

How many insects does California have? We’re getting closer to an answer

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Jan 2026
Mike Heusner. Photo courtesy of Caribbean Lifestyle Belize

Mike Heusner, steward of Belize’s waters, has died, aged 86

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Jan 2026
Doug McConnell. (Photo by Jack Uhalde)

Doug McConnell, interpreter of Northern California, has died, aged 80

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jan 2026
Margerie Glacier in Alaska in 2007. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

What can—and cannot—be done to save the world’s glaciers

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jan 2026
A North Atlantic right whale with calf. Image via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain).

North Atlantic right whale births increase

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jan 2026
Demetrio carrying out monitoring tasks. Image courtesy of Richar Antonio Demetrio.

When Indigenous knowledge enters the scientific record

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Jan 2026
Product of the women's keeping initiative. Photo credit: Felipe Rodriguez

Conservation’s unfinished business

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 Jan 2026
Bob Weir. From his website.

Bob Weir, a musician who took the environment seriously

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jan 2026
Madhav Gadgil in 2016. Photo by Syed Shiyaz Mirza

Madhav Gadgil, advocate of democratic conservation, has died at 83

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jan 2026
Mushrooms in San Mateo County, California. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

An inventory of life in California

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Jan 2026
The Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

The climate fight may not be won in the Amazon, but it can be lost there

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jan 2026

Biologist kidnapped in Mexico

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jan 2026
Craig. Photo by Cristina Mittermeier

What Craig’s long life reveals about elephant conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jan 2026

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Collage featuring cockfighting and a largetooth sawfish
Videos
Pascale Moehrle. Courtesy of Oceana.
Articles
Mt. Taranaki, New Zealand, captured March 16, 2022. Image courtesy of Planet Labs PBC.
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