promoting awareness of environmental issues. Originally the site was based around a text on tropical rainforests written by Rhett A. Butler, but today the site has expanded to a range of other topics — like Madagascar — and is available in more than three dozen non-English languages. Mongabay is also publisher of Tropical Conservation Science, a peer-reviewed, open-access academic journal that seeks to provide opportunities for scientists in developing countries to publish their research.

Mongabay has been featured in the San Francisco Chronicle, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and other local, national and international publications.

Mongabay was founded in 1999 by Rhett A. Butler out of his passion for nature and wildlife.