The Joe Rogan ExperienceJoe Rogan Experience #1927 - Forrest Galante
Joe Rogan and Forrest Galante on cryptids, Cloned Mammoths, and Conservation: Rogan and Galante Roam Wild.
In this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, featuring Narrator and Narrator, Joe Rogan Experience #1927 - Forrest Galante explores cryptids, Cloned Mammoths, and Conservation: Rogan and Galante Roam Wild Joe Rogan and wildlife biologist Forrest Galante range across topics from cryptids and unverified megafauna to cutting‑edge de‑extinction science and global conservation failures.
At a glance
WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Cryptids, Cloned Mammoths, and Conservation: Rogan and Galante Roam Wild
- Joe Rogan and wildlife biologist Forrest Galante range across topics from cryptids and unverified megafauna to cutting‑edge de‑extinction science and global conservation failures.
- They discuss plausible ‘cryptids’ like thylacines, giant sloths, and enormous snakes, contrasting them with misidentifications, hoaxes, and cultural lore around Bigfoot and humanoid creatures.
- A major segment explores Colossal Biosciences’ plans to resurrect woolly mammoths and thylacines to actively re‑engineer damaged ecosystems, alongside broader rewilding efforts such as wolves, bison, and mammoth steppe restoration.
- Throughout, they connect diet, modern disconnection from nature, industrial food systems, and destructive practices like palm oil monoculture and ocean overfishing to the larger story of how humans shape — and might still repair — the natural world.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
7 ideasMany ‘cryptids’ are either misidentified real animals or culturally stretched memories of extinct species.
Galante frames thylacines and giant ground sloths as plausible ‘cryptids’ because they once clearly existed, whereas many humanoid or monster sightings can be explained by mis-seen wildlife, isolated tribes, or distorted legends (e.g., Bigfoot and dragons echoing Gigantopithecus or ancient reptiles).
Remote, rugged habitats make even large animals incredibly hard to confirm or refute scientifically.
Areas like Papua New Guinea, the Amazon, and the Congo have vast unexplored valleys, dense forest, and logistical barriers (helicopters, tribal guides, refueling, camera grids), meaning small relic populations of species like thylacines or oversized snakes could theoretically persist undetected.
De‑extinction is moving from science fiction to active conservation tool — fast.
Colossal Biosciences is using CRISPR and elephant/marsupial surrogates to recreate mammoth‑like and thylacine‑like animals, targeting first live mammoths by around 2024 and eventual large populations to cool permafrost and restore lost predator–prey dynamics.
Rewilding apex species can repair ecosystem function but demands active, sometimes radical management.
Examples like wolves in Yellowstone, proposed mammoth herds in Siberia/Alaska, and potential thylacine returns to Tasmania illustrate how re‑introducing predators and megafauna can control overabundant prey, disease, and vegetation — yet also raises safety and social questions.
Modern humans are deeply disconnected from the origins and costs of their food.
They contrast organ‑eating hunter cultures and subsistence lifestyles with supermarket convenience, NIH‑backed food charts that prefer sugary cereals over steak, and the backlash to graphic hunting/fishing content from people who still consume meat and fish daily.
Industrial agriculture, mining, and fishing are quietly doing more ecological damage than most people realize.
Palm oil monoculture in Borneo, cobalt hand‑mining in the Congo, and industrial trawling that scrapes sea floors show how consumer products (Nutella, smartphones, cheap tuna) are tied to habitat loss, biodiversity collapse, and human exploitation that urban consumers rarely see.
Conservation as currently practiced is often reactive and late; radical approaches may be required.
Galante argues that mainstream conservation “loses every year” because interventions are triggered at the brink of extinction; he advocates for proactive, even controversial measures like de‑extinction, aggressive rewilding, and reframing economic incentives around ecosystem services (e.g., carbon offsets from mammoth steppe).
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesWe are losing the conservation game every single year.
— Forrest Galante
Radical conservation… I don’t care what it is. Trying something is better than not trying anything and continuing down the path we’ve been going.
— Forrest Galante
If we lose the ocean, we all die.
— Forrest Galante
We’ve become so jaded with this idea that nature is in harmony and balance. It’s not. It’s tooth, fang, and claw.
— Joe Rogan
Imagine ten years from now, there’s going to be several thousand thylacine back in Tasmania… that’s fixing an imbalance we created.
— Forrest Galante
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN THIS EPISODE
5 questionsIf de‑extinction succeeds at scale, how should society decide which species to resurrect, and who gets to make that call?
Joe Rogan and wildlife biologist Forrest Galante range across topics from cryptids and unverified megafauna to cutting‑edge de‑extinction science and global conservation failures.
What ethical lines, if any, should limit genetic engineering and artificial womb technologies when used for conservation rather than food or pets?
They discuss plausible ‘cryptids’ like thylacines, giant sloths, and enormous snakes, contrasting them with misidentifications, hoaxes, and cultural lore around Bigfoot and humanoid creatures.
How can consumers realistically reduce their contribution to destructive practices like palm oil monoculture, cobalt exploitation, and industrial overfishing without simply shifting burdens elsewhere?
A major segment explores Colossal Biosciences’ plans to resurrect woolly mammoths and thylacines to actively re‑engineer damaged ecosystems, alongside broader rewilding efforts such as wolves, bison, and mammoth steppe restoration.
At what point does reintroducing large predators or megafauna (wolves, mammoths, saber‑toothed analogs) become too risky for modern human communities, and how should trade‑offs be evaluated?
Throughout, they connect diet, modern disconnection from nature, industrial food systems, and destructive practices like palm oil monoculture and ocean overfishing to the larger story of how humans shape — and might still repair — the natural world.
Could the same global coordination needed to ‘pause’ ocean fishing for recovery or reform cobalt supply chains ever be achieved in practice, and what incentives would make nations and corporations participate?
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
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