Cat stories attracted the most readers on Mongabay web sites.
For anyone familiar with the internet over the past three decades, the popularity of cat-related content will come as little surprise.
Across Mongabay’s six-language platforms and four regional bureaus, articles about wild cats topped the charts for median readership in 2024. This includes the iconic big cats—lions, tigers, and jaguars—as well as lesser-known but ecologically vital small cats, like the ocelot, jaguarundi, and Pallas’s cat. Wildcat stories boasted median readership 17 times that of the average article.
Beyond felines, here are the top 10 topics, ranked by median readership (with a minimum of 30 articles published):
⛰️ Mountains – 604 (median for all topics = 100)
🦁⚡ Human-wildlife conflict – 516
🏹 Hunting – 490
🌳➡️🌾 Habitat degradation – 483
♻️ Restoration – 430
🐻 Mammals – 412
🌈 Nature-based climate solutions – 397
🦖 Extinction – 372
🪓 Tropical deforestation – 366
Conversely, these topics had the lowest median readership:
🤝 Community conservation – 14
🪦 Ethnocide – 25
🛖 Indigenous lands – 25
🔥 Slash-and-burn practices – 28
🗺️ Land demarcation – 33
Clicks and Impact
As I’ve often emphasized, pageviews are not a proxy for impact. Sometimes, the most effective audience for an article is not a broad one but a targeted group—or even a single decision-maker—who can act on the information.
Thus, these readership figures do not dictate editorial priorities. Coverage of community conservation or Indigenous lands will not be reduced simply because they have niche audiences.
However, the data can inform how stories are framed. For instance, if climate stories typically underperform but wildlife stories captivate readers, tying climate narratives to their impact on tigers’ behavior or distribution could help reach a broader audience.
As always, the goal is not just to inform, but to inspire action—whether through an audience of millions or the right person at the right time.
Bureaus
There were significant differences between the bureaus in terms of what topics attracted readership. Animal themes topped Mongabay News (Global English) and French, whereas people-related themes dominated Indonesian and Hindi.
Notes
- The analysis is based on topic tags applied by editors and writers, rather than automated classification.
- Topic tags are not mutually exclusive; for example, a story about an Indigenous community protecting jaguars could be tagged with “jaguar,” “wildlife,” “Indigenous Peoples,” “conservation,” and more.
- A minimum of 30 stories is required for inclusion in the cross-language list, with a bureau-level threshold of 10.
