Founder's briefs News

Founder’s Briefs is an occasional series where Mongabay founder Rhett Ayers Butler shares analysis, perspectives and story summaries. Rhett founded Mongabay in 1999 to raise awareness about tropical forests and biodiversity. In 2012, he transitioned Mongabay to a non-profit organization and oversaw its growth into a multinational, multilingual news service. Beyond Mongabay, Rhett has advised a range of institutions, while his writing and photography have appeared in hundreds of publications. Rhett's work has been recognized with the Heinz Award and the Parker/Gentry Award, among other honors.

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
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
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
Pangolins curl into a ball as part of their self-defense, with scales acting as armor to protect their body. The WJC report estimates that the 370 tons of pangolin scales seized between 2015 and 2024 represent between 100,000 and a million pangolins.

The illegal trade in ivory and pangolin scales has fallen sharply since COVID-19. But for how long?

Rhett Ayers Butler 26 Jun 2025
A river in the Amazon rainforest interior of Suriname. Photo credit: Rhett Ayers Butler.

Half a million hectares of rainforest were saved — in part thanks to journalism

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Jun 2025
Maruti Chitampalli. Screenshot courtesy of Wildlife of Vidarbha

Maruti Bhujangrao Chitampalli, sage of the forest, died on June 18th, aged 93

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jun 2025

Rediscovering the biodiversity of India’s Siang Valley

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Jun 2025
Ridzki in Jambi in 2022. Photo by Rhett Ayers Butler.

How Mongabay Indonesia grew into a trusted environmental voice

Rhett Ayers Butler 20 Jun 2025
Split shot in the waters of San Benedicto, Mexico. Credit: Enric Sala/National Geographic Pristine Seas

The ocean is in crisis. A new effort is betting on coastal communities to save it.

Rhett Ayers Butler 19 Jun 2025
Udzungwa endemic Sanje mangabey. Image courtesy Trevor Jones.

Protecting Tanzania’s Udzungwa Mountains means putting communities at the center of conservation

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Jun 2025

Rwanda’s crowned cranes make a remarkable comeback

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
The elkhorn coral that comprises most of the Cocalito reef used to be one of the most dominant coral species in the Caribbean.

The reef that shouldn’t exist

Rhett Ayers Butler 17 Jun 2025
Dami Tateburuk sits in the Malinggai Uma Tradisional Mentawai house.

Mentawai’s primates are vanishing. One hunter is trying to save them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
M Marika. Courtesy of the Rirratjiŋu Aboriginal Corporation

M Marika, custodian of Yolŋu land and culture, died on June 4th, aged 64

Rhett Ayers Butler 9 Jun 2025
A Bornean orangutan. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

A new report lists the world’s 25 most endangered primates. Most people have never heard of them.

Rhett Ayers Butler 4 Jun 2025

What does it take to expose 67 illegal airstrips in the Amazon? A year of reporting — and the trust of local communities

Rhett Ayers Butler 2 Jun 2025
Radheshyam Bishnoi in 2021. From his Instagram.

Radheshyam Bishnoi, protector of India’s wildlife, died on May 24, 2025, aged 28

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 May 2025
Barbara Yeaman. Image courtesy of Delaware Highlands Conservancy.

Barbara Yeaman, aviator and conservation pioneer, died April 6, aged 100

Rhett Ayers Butler 8 May 2025
Alwyn Gentry at work in Ecuador. Image courtesy of Randall Hyman.

Alwyn Gentry died young, but left a forest’s worth of ideas behind

Rhett Ayers Butler 7 May 2025

Jim Brandenburg, conservation photographer, died April 4th, aged 79

Rhett Ayers Butler 5 May 2025

Abel Rodríguez, artist who drew a vanishing forest from memory, died April 9, age unknown

Rhett Ayers Butler 1 May 2025
An indri lemur (Indri indri). Image by Rhett A. Butler.

Indigenous stewardship plays a key role in protecting imperiled primates

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Apr 2025
Mongabay Founder and CEO Rhett A. Butler. Image by Mongabay.

Reflections on 20 years of Mongabay News (commentary)

Rhett Ayers Butler 30 Apr 2025

We can’t plant our way out of climate change

Rhett Ayers Butler 28 Apr 2025
Ex-captive orangutans at Camp Leaky in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Photos by Rhett A. Butler

An interview with orangutan conservationist and advocate Gary Shapiro

Rhett Ayers Butler 25 Apr 2025
Elephants move across the African savannah. Photo by Rhett A. Butler / Mongabay

The wisdom of the elders: Why the oldest animals matter

Rhett Ayers Butler 24 Apr 2025
A Chinese pangolin. Image by Sarita Jnawali of NTNC – Central Zoo via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).

Pangolins help biodiversity recover after fires

Rhett Ayers Butler 23 Apr 2025

Indigenous women in Peru lead wildcat conservation initiative

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2025
Auyán-Tepuí in Venezuela. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

In the shadow of Angel Falls: How Auyán-Tepuí sparked my reverence for nature

Rhett Ayers Butler 22 Apr 2025
Canopy platform in Amacayacu National Park, Colombia. Photo: Rhett A. Butler.

Ecologists are spending less time in the field. That could be a problem.

Rhett Ayers Butler 21 Apr 2025
A young orangutan grasps and hangs on to a woody liana.

Nature on the move: How conservation must adapt to survive

Rhett Ayers Butler 18 Apr 2025

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A man fishes in the Niger Delta near the village of Diebu, Nigeria, Saturday, May 18, 2013. Image by Jon Gambrell / AP Photo.
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Creek in the Colombian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.
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