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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1974 stories
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
Dr. Sheila Colla receiving the 2023 Education Award from Nature Ontario. Courtesy of Nature Ontari

Sheila Colla, advocate for bees, died on July 6th, aged 43

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

Vatsala, Asia’s oldest known elephant, died on July 8th, 2025, aged around 100

Rhett Ayers Butler 15 Jul 2025

WWF rethinks conservation after a crisis of its own making

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jul 2025
Harapan rainforest canopy in Jambi, Sumatra, Indonesia, by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

What’s holding back natural climate solutions?

Rhett Ayers Butler 14 Jul 2025
Mark Erdmann releasing a thresher shark. Photo courtesy of Mark Erdmann.

Sharks didn’t rebound—so Mark Erdmann is putting them back

Rhett Ayers Butler 13 Jul 2025
Longyangxia Dam Solar Park in China. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Nearly three-quarters of solar and wind projects are being built in China

Rhett Ayers Butler 11 Jul 2025
Roberto Zolho. From his Facebook page

Roberto Zolho, conservationist who helped restore Mozambique’s wildlife following its civil war, has died at 65.

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jul 2025
The Geoffroy's Tamarin can be found in the Darién rainforest. Image by Concep Arroyo via Pexels.

Inside Panama’s gamble to save the Darién

Rhett Ayers Butler 10 Jul 2025
African elephant in Namibia. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

Can conservation go viral in Africa? Peter Knights thinks so.

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 Jul 2025
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

News and Inspiration from Nature's Frontline.

Soldiers from the PROLANSATE Foundation on patrol
Videos
Rainforest, reef, and ocean on Maratua Island, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photo by Rhett A. Butler.
Articles
The last photo taken between Rhett Butler and Jane Goodall--who shared a friendship for nearly 15 years--at the Forbes Sustainability Leadership Summit. Photo by Sofia Negron.
Podcasts

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