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.

LinkedIn Profile | Personal website | Contact

Some background on Mongabay's origin:

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2306 stories
Bob Ricklefs. Photo by August Jennewein

Robert Ricklefs, ecologist who helped generations understand nature, has died at 83

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jun 2026
RAN Burger King protest in 1987. Image courtesy of Rainforest Action Network

How an activist network built pressure without political power

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jun 2026
A Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) in India. Image by Charles J. Sharp via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Cambodia wants its tigers back. So it plans to import Bengal tigers from India

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jun 2026
A recently emerged Suraka silk moth (Antherina suraka) is held by an artisan in the SEPALI Madagascar demonstration garden in Maroantsetra. Trained local farmers use the CPALI method to collect this species’ brown silk, leaving the developing pupae unharmed. Image by Rachel Kramer/CPALI.

How silk caterpillars became a tool for conservation in Madagascar

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jun 2026
Soundscape Baselines Site in Baraboo Hills, Wisconsin, USA, includes view of bioacoustic recorder and camera trap

Why conservation urgently needs acoustic baselines

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2026
This platypus is ready for release, after being captured, weighed, measured and given a health assessment.

What the platypus can teach us about smarter conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jun 2026
A school of albacore tuna gathered by a seine net, off the Seychelles. Photo by Marc Taquet

Tuna are rebounding. The work is far from done.

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jun 2026
Popularly called the “ghost dog” (perro fantasma) in Bolivia, Atelocynus microtis is one of the world’s least-known canid species. Image courtesy of Guido Ayala & María Viscarra/WCS Bolivia.

The ‘ghost dog’ of the Amazon reveals the value of intact forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 Jun 2026
Mangrove forest in Indonesia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

How small actions can become planetary forces

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jun 2026
A European wildcat in Scotland, where 46 captive-bred wildcats have been released as part of an ongoing reintroduction project. The cats are repopulating former habitat in the Cairngorms mountain range in the eastern highlands.

The European wildcat is back. In some places.

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Jun 2026
Brooklyn Rivera. Photo courtesy of La Prensa,

Brooklyn Rivera, defender of Nicaragua’s Indigenous lands, dies in detention

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jun 2026
Thomas Crowther

Nature’s feedback loops can drive collapse. Thomas Crowther thinks they can also drive recovery

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Jun 2026
Yakama leader Davis Yellowash Washines

Davis “Yellowash” Washines, Yakama elder who spoke for the river and salmon

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 May 2026
One of many unattributed AI-generated images doing the rounds on social media.

The new burden of proving wildlife is real

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 May 2026
Amazon rainforest canopy. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

The Amazon’s path from crisis to durability

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 May 2026
A leopard cat in India’s West Bengal state. India’s population of leopard cats is not contiguous, with individuals in the western part of the country isolated from the rest of the leopard cat’s range. Image by Soumyajit Nandy via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Asia’s overlooked leopard cat

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 May 2026

Brazil has protected much of the Amazon. It now has to pay for it.

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 May 2026
The plight of koalas was a factor in creating this new national park, but 66 threatened animals and 37 threatened flora species are also found here.

Great Koala National Park tests whether protected forests can stay connected

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 May 2026
Aerial view of a cargo ship. Photo by Cameron Venti / Ocean Image Bank

The most underfunded climate opportunities may be at sea

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 May 2026
Mike Salisbury in Tanzania in the 1970s. Photo courtesy of BBC

Mike Salisbury, wildlife filmmaker who made plants behave like characters, has died, aged 84

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 May 2026
Givaldo Santos Kaiowá

Givaldo Santos, Kaiowá and Guarani leader, was killed on May 1st, aged 40

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 May 2026

Norlan Pagal, fisherman and guardian of Tañon Strait, died on May 14th, aged 56

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 May 2026
Merlin van Lawick speaking at Jane Goodall's celebration of life in Washington D.C. on November 12, 2025. Photo by the Washington National Cathedral.

Jane Goodall’s grandson on hope after loss

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 May 2026
Monica Montefalcone. From her social media.

Monica Montefalcone, leading seagrass scientist, dies in Maldives diving accident, aged 51

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 May 2026
A 2004 mapping expedition organized by the Trio and the Amazon Conservation Team in Suriname. Image courtesy of the Amazon Conservation Team

Whose map counts in conservation? The rise of participatory mapping

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 May 2026
Photograph of a Bornean orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus) submitted by a KehatiKu citizen observer.

Paying people to see wildlife: Inside a $1-per-hectare conservation experiment in Borneo

Rhett Ayers Butler 12 May 2026

Ocean philanthropy: small sums for a vast domain

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 May 2026
Mama ring-tailed lemur with baby in Anja, Madagascar. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

A Mother’s Day lesson from a digger wasp

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 May 2026
Tufted-tailed rat (Eliurus sp) in Madagascar. Photo by Elise Paietta

In one forest, native rats remain. In another, only invaders.

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 May 2026
Ted Turner at CNN. Courtesy of the Ted Turner Foundation

Ted Turner, a media mogul who tried to repair the land

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 May 2026
Sir David Attenborough By BBC - Passion Planet

At 100, David Attenborough’s message is no longer just about wonder

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2026
A forest in Costa Rica. The country is considered a pioneer in a forest protection mechanism that has helped drastically reverse deforestation. Image by Rhett Butler.

Can listening to a forest reveal whether it is ecologically healthy?

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 May 2026

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Beginning in the mid-2000s, poachers targeted elephants for their tusks, which were worth hefty sums on the black market. In some countries, including Zambia, governments and conservationists are trying to find new ways to combat poaching — like understanding motivations and trying to provide alternative, legal employment.
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