Rhett Ayers Butler
With United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP 16) starting today in Cali, I thought a fitting way to mark Reptile Appreciation Day would be to highlight the blue anole (https://mongabay.cc/4Ycrmm), endemic to the island of Gorgona, located off the Pacific coast of Colombia, not far from Cali. Gorgona, long noted for its biodiversity, hosts this vibrant […]
Today is International Sloth Day đŠ„ Sloths, as a group, might be said to epitomize the concept of taking life slowly. The six species, found mainly in Central and South America, spend most of their days hanging from trees, moving deliberately to conserve energyâa strategy shaped by a diet of nutrient-poor leaves. Yet, contrary to […]
Once formidable predators in the worldâs coastal and estuarine waters, sawfishâmembers of the ray family with their distinctive, toothed “saws”ânow find themselves on the verge of vanishing. On International Sawfish Day, it is worth highlighting a creature whose form is as memorable as its fate is precarious. Sawfish, which can grow up to 7.6 meters […]
It doesnât seem like the news is getting much better. What gives you hope for the future? This was one of the questions, Jennifer Wu asked during our conversation on The Founder Spirit podcast. đł A summary of my response:I see progress in many areasâeducation, poverty reduction, and health outcomes have improved. People are living […]
Yesterday the latest Living Planet Index (LPI) report was released by WWF and Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It paints a sobering picture: wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of 73% over the past half-century. Based on nearly 35,000 monitored population trends spanning 5,495 species, LPI documents a collapse in biodiversity that extends across […]
Ryan Killackey, who died on October 4th, aged 46, was a man of singular purpose. Born in Homewood, Illinois, he came of age with a fascination for nature that would eventually drive him to the farthest reaches of the Amazon rainforest. But his was no simple journey of exploration or adventure; it was a pursuit […]
Orangutans have long captured the human imagination, their expressive eyes and human-like behaviors drawing parallels with our own species. Yet few individuals have had the opportunity to dive as deeply into the minds and lives of these great apes as Gary L. Shapiro. A pioneer in primate communication, Dr. Shapiroâs work spans five decades, encompassing […]
On World Octopus Day đ, it seems fitting to reflect on a creature whose intelligence is as intriguing as its ability to blend into its surroundings. The octopus, a soft-bodied mollusc with eight limbs, has long mesmerized audiences ranging from scientists and storytellers. With over 300 species scattered across the oceansâfrom shallow coral reefs to […]
A recent study has put the Indonesian governmentâs claims about the economic benefits of oil palm cultivation in Papua under scrutiny, reports Hans Nicholas Jong. Papua is the Indonesia-controlled portion of the island of New Guinea The Pusaka Bentala Rakyat Foundationâs analysis reveals that the environmental and social costs tied to the palm oil industry […]
Global interest in reforestation as a climate solution is growing, but with it comes a proliferation of inexperienced organizations and opaque strategies, often resulting in failures and unintended consequences. This trend has led to calls for greater transparency in reporting outcomes and best practices. A recent study led by researchers at the University of California, […]
I recently had the pleasure to speak with Brodie Hopkins for the âProtect the Worldâ podcast. The episode is titled Journalism for People and the Planet with Rhett Butler. Protect the World is dedicated to the people and orgs making the world a better place. Every month, Hopkins connects with an NGO that’s addressing inequality […]
Planet has unveiled Project Centinela, an initiative designed to bolster conservation efforts in some of the worldâs most vulnerable biodiversity hotspots. The program will provide cutting-edge satellite imagery and analytical tools to scientists and conservationists working in areas at the highest risk of species extinction. By offering access to high-resolution, high-frequency data, Planet seeks to […]
The notion that climate change poses a significant health risk is not as widely acknowledged as it should be. Yet the relationship between a warming planet and human well-being is profound, with impacts ranging from heat waves to the spread of infectious diseases. Alan Dangour, Director of Climate and Health at Wellcome, is determined to […]
Today is World Gorilla Day The lush forests of equatorial Africa, once a riot of life teeming with an unimaginable richness of plants and creatures, are yielding to a more ordered worldâtrees and crops planted in straight lines, forest sounds replaced by the hum of chainsaws and motorbikes, the rich, earthy scent of understory vegetation […]
Today is International Rhino Day We share the planet with five rhino species: the white and black rhinos of Africa, and the Sumatran, Javan, and Indian (Greater One-Horned) rhinos of Asia. While the Indian and southern white rhinos have seen significant recoveries, most rhinos remain critically endangered, teetering on the edge of extinction. The Northern […]
Jane Goodall had some nice things to say about Mongabay’s work during a conversation with Climate One’s Greg Dalton and myself in San Francisco on September 16th. I tell everybody, if you really want to know the truth about a particular issue, go to Mongabay.â âWe know weâre going through dark places on the planet […]
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with David Casselman, a philanthropist and retired trial lawyer who is the founder of Ecoflix. Ecoflix is a video streaming platform dedicated to sharing uplifting and positive stories about nature and wildlife. With a focus on conservation and environmental awareness, it aims to inspire […]
Today is World Manta Day. In conservation, economic valuation is increasingly recognized as a potent tool to incentivize species protection. Manta rays exemplify how their worth, alive, far surpasses the value placed on their body parts in global fisheries. Both the reef manta (Manta alfredi) and the giant manta (Manta birostris) face significant threats, particularly […]
Here’s an example of how we fund nature journalism. Mongabay is a nonprofit media outlet that relies on grants and donations, rather than advertising or a paywall, to bring our audience news and inspiration from natureâs frontline. Iâm often asked how this works. The short answer is that weâre constantly pitching donors to secure support […]
At last nightâs Climate One event, nearly 1,700 attendees, including more than 600 students and educators, gathered to hear Jane Goodall deliver a heartfelt plea for the future of our planet. In a conversation moderated by Greg Dalton, Goodallâs words pierced through the often numbing barrage of crises that dominate our daily news. “Please vote,” […]
Today is International Vulture Awareness Day. That makes it a fitting moment to recognize the crucial role these birds of prey play in our world. Vultures, long maligned as harbingers of death, are emerging as unsung heroes in the field of public health. In India, their precipitous decline in the 1990sâcaused by the veterinary use […]
The destruction of tropical forests is often framed as a carbon issue, but it has more immediate consequences for people living nearby. One of the most tangible effects is local temperature. Deforestation in Borneo, for instance, has left the island significantly hotter and drier, with severe consequences for both the environment and local communities. A […]
Today is Amazon Rainforest Day. To mark the occasion, here are a few facts and figures about the worldâs largest tropical rainforest: đł The Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, bigger than the next two largest rainforests â in the Congo Basin and Indonesia â combined. đł At 6.9 million square kilometers, the Amazon Basin […]
Today is International Primate Day. While most people are familiar with monkeys, the great apes, and possibly lemurs, fewer may realize that there are over 500 known species of primates, making them one of the most diverse groups of mammals. These species range from the diminutive Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur of Madagascar to the formidable […]
The amphibian apocalypse, it seems, has been momentarily postponed. Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans, or Bsal, a fungal pathogen that has wreaked havoc on amphibian populations globally, remains conspicuously absent from North America. For a decade, scientists from the North American Bsal Task Force have combed forests and swabbed salamanders, searching for any trace of the pathogen. Their […]