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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2303 stories
Raffles’ banded langur, courtesy of Andie Ang.

Singapore’s population of Raffles’ banded langur has doubled

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 May 2026
The Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

A “good year” for forests changes less than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026
A young ring-tailed glider (Tous ayamaruensis). Image courtesy of Arman Muharmansyah.

Species thought extinct for thousands of years ‘rediscovered’ thanks to Indigenous knowledge

Rhett Ayers Butler 29 Apr 2026
Amazon Mining Watch leverages artificial intelligence to map the impact of gold mining activities across all nine Amazonian countries.

A search engine for the planet opens to the public

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
Nickel mining on Manuran Island. Image courtesy of Auriga Nusantara.

Deforestation is surging in Indonesia

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
"Flower Power" was taken by Bernie Boston The Washington Evening Star on October 21, 1967, during the March on the Pentagon by the National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam. It shows a protester placing a carnation into the barrel of an M14 rifle held by a soldier of the 503rd Military Police Battalion (Airborne).

When protest works: Examples where activists have successfully pushed for change

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2026
Luis Arranza at Dzanga Bai. Photo by Nuria Ortega

What it takes to make conservation work in Central Africa: Luis Arranz’s 46-year journey

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 27 Apr 2026
Peter H. Raven at the Missouri Botanical Garden. Photo by M. Jacob.

Peter Raven, botanist and advocate for biodiversity, has died, aged 89

Rhett Ayers Butler 27 Apr 2026
Don Janssen with an okapi. Courtesy of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

Don Janssen, wildlife veterinarian who argued that caring for animals begins with people

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Apr 2026
Nan Schaffer. Photo courtesy of Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Nan Schaffer, veterinarian who helped unlock the science of rhino reproduction, has died, aged 72

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Apr 2026
Tufted-tailed rat (Eliurus sp) in Madagascar. Photo by Elise Paietta

Why forest conservation is also public health

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2026
George Schaller in Alaska. Photo courtesy of the George B. Schaller Archive.

How do you write the life of someone who avoided the spotlight? Miriam Horn on her biography of George Schaller

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2026
Luis Yanza. Courtesy of the Goldman Prize.

Luis Yanza, campaigner who battled big oil in the Amazon rainforest

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2026
A small frog in costa Rica. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Conservation collects more data than ever. What is it for?

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Apr 2026
Ivonne Kienast at Dzanga Bai

Studying the world’s largest gathering of forest elephants with sound and field observation

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 19 Apr 2026
Nancy Collins

Thomas J. Walker studied the songs of crickets and katydids

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Apr 2026
Misty morning in Borneo. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

10 forces that could reshape the future of the world’s forests

Rhett Ayers Butler 16 Apr 2026
Aaron Longton. Courtesy of Pew Charitable Trusts.

Aaron Longton, fisherman who tied sustainability to survival

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Apr 2026
Schaller with a peccary. Courtesy of the George B. Schaller Archive.

George Schaller: The field biologist who helped redefine conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Apr 2026
Emmanuel de Merode at an airstrip near Salonga National Park in DRC in March 2026. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Can nature outcompete war in Eastern Congo?

Rhett Ayers Butler, David Akana 13 Apr 2026
African elephant. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Living with wildlife, bearing the cost

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Apr 2026
Doug Allan. Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Doug Allan, wildlife cameraman who filmed animals in extreme environments

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Apr 2026
Waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata). Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Half of seabirds are declining. Protecting marine flyways could help save them

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Apr 2026
A federal fisheries observer sorts fish and collects data to inform fisheries management aboard the Cassandra Anne, a groundfish trawler based in Oregon, U.S. Imge by Chris Peterson/Action Works Photography courtesy of Oregon Sea Grant via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0).

How the US rebuilt a collapsed fishery

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Apr 2026

Tracking environmental crime in the Amazon: A conversation with Alexa Vélez

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Apr 2026
Scarlet macaw in Costa Rica. Frugivores are important seed dispersers. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

How quickly do tropical forests recover? Faster than expected, but slower than it seems

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Apr 2026
Silverback gorilla in Dzanga-Sangha, Central African Republic. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler

Why conservation needs stories of progress

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Apr 2026
Azurina eupalama, last documented evidence of its existence, photographed in 1983 by Jack Stein Grove at Sullivan Bay, Santiago Island, Galapagos Archipelago

Is the Galápagos damselfish extinct?

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 Apr 2026
Mitchell Byrd. Photo by Linda Richardson

Mitchell Byrd, ornithologist who helped bring bald eagles back from the brink in the Chesapeake area

Rhett Ayers Butler 6 Apr 2026
Jane Goodall planting a tree. Photo courtesy of the Jane Goodall Institute.

Today is Jane Goodall Day. Her movement continues.

Rhett Ayers Butler 3 Apr 2026
Remote river in the Peruvian Amazon. © Zoom.Earth

How underinvesting in information threatens our collective well-being

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Apr 2026
Agroforestry in Ethiopia. Image by Trees ForTheFuture via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Who gives up land for the world’s climate fixes?

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 Apr 2026

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Lionfish hunted
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Sunrise over the Amazon rainforest. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
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