Joe Rogan Experience #1403 - Forrest Galante

1. 0:00 – 2:07

   Rediscovering Colombia’s “extinct” yellow caiman and what comes after the find

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (singing) And (snaps fingers) what's happening, brother? How are ya?

   2. FGForrest Galante0:05

      Hey, Joe. I'm good, man.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:05

      Good to see you, man.

   4. FGForrest Galante0:06

      It's great to be here. Thanks for having me.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:07

      I've been following your exploits on, uh, social media and, uh, the yellow caiman.

   6. FGForrest Galante0:12

      Yes. (laughs)

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      Dude, that is a wild-looking creature.

   8. FGForrest Galante0:16

      Isn't it? It's unbelievable.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      And it was thought to be extinct?

   10. FGForrest Galante0:18

       Uh, yeah, so this one's... It's a little confusing. It, um... It's a species that was last seen in... When the last one died in a zoo in the '80s, and because of the region that it occupies in Colombia, which has always been controlled by FARC rebels, nobody had been back down there to look for it. And, uh, myself, and there's actually this amazing Colombian scientist named Sergio Riena, were both kind of going and, and prodding and trying to see if we could get in, and, and we both found it within a month of each other.

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:43

       Oh, wow.

   12. FGForrest Galante0:44

       Yeah. (laughs)

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:44

       Now, it's a... It was a beautiful-looking creature. Look at that thing.

   14. FGForrest Galante0:47

       Right? (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:48

       Such a wild, green, yellow color. So wild-looking.

   16. FGForrest Galante0:52

       It's u- super unique. I mean-

   17. JRJoe Rogan0:54

       Dude, you're just holding that thing by the neck?

   18. FGForrest Galante0:56

       Yeah. We just had a little wr- wrestling match, him and I, so... (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:00

       You don't even have body control. Don't you wanna take mount here, maybe get a back mount, get some hooks in?

   20. FGForrest Galante1:04

       (laughs)

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:05

       (laughs)

   22. FGForrest Galante1:06

       No, he was, he was good at it. You know, reptiles, they tire out, so they're not like mammals.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:10

       Oh.

   24. FGForrest Galante1:10

       Um, once they expend all their energy, that's kind of it. Um, but yeah, absolutely amazing.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:15

       D- Are they similar to regular crocodiles or alligators in that they don't have to eat for, like, a year?

   26. FGForrest Galante1:21

       Yeah. The... So, caiman... I mean, caiman don't have the... as slow of metabolism as certain other species, but they are... They're a member of the alligator family, so to speak, and they can go very long times without food.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:33

       What a crazy animal. Like, looks like a monster.

   28. FGForrest Galante1:37

       Yep.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:37

       I mean, look at-

   30. FGForrest Galante1:37

       Look at it. (laughs)
2. 2:07 – 4:12

   Jaguar vs caiman: predator aesthetics, fear, and real bite power

   1. JRJoe Rogan2:07

      There's a, uh, great photo, Jamie, from the Nature is Metal, um, Instagram page from yesterday of-

   2. FGForrest Galante2:14

      That page is nuts. (laughs)

   3. JRJoe Rogan2:15

      I love that page.

   4. FGForrest Galante2:15

      I love it too. (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan2:16

      I love that page. There's a great one of, uh, a jaguar with a caiman in its mouth.

   6. FGForrest Galante2:21

      There is.

   7. JRJoe Rogan2:21

      That one. Look at the eyes on that fucker.

   8. FGForrest Galante2:23

      Yeah.

   9. JRJoe Rogan2:23

      Now, go f- g- l- expand. Look at that.

   10. FGForrest Galante2:26

       (laughs)

   11. JRJoe Rogan2:27

       Oh! Thing of nightmares.

   12. FGForrest Galante2:28

       (laughs) Look at those fangs right in the throat.

   13. JRJoe Rogan2:30

       Yeah.

   14. FGForrest Galante2:30

       Like, just death grip.

   15. JRJoe Rogan2:32

       Just...

   16. FGForrest Galante2:32

       And, uh, you can see that, that caiman is death rolling in that scene, right? It's trying to get away.

   17. JRJoe Rogan2:37

       Yeah.

   18. FGForrest Galante2:37

       It's rolling, and that jag is just locked in.

   19. JRJoe Rogan2:40

       The eyes on that thing, my God.

   20. FGForrest Galante2:42

       Unbelievable.

   21. JRJoe Rogan2:43

       It's like nature has created... Like, in those kinda eyes, th- that's the perfect... That's the, the perfect vision of terror.

   22. FGForrest Galante2:51

       Yeah.

   23. JRJoe Rogan2:51

       Like, those eyes.

   24. FGForrest Galante2:52

       Totally.

   25. JRJoe Rogan2:52

       Like, if you're locked into those eyes, like, there's no forgiveness. There's no emotions. There's just ferocity-

   26. FGForrest Galante2:59

       Yeah.

   27. JRJoe Rogan3:00

       ... and aggression and death.

   28. FGForrest Galante3:02

       I- It seems like nothing but testosterone is behind that, you know what I mean? Testosterone's probably the wrong, "wrong" chemical, but it just seems so-

   29. JRJoe Rogan3:09

       Yes.

   30. FGForrest Galante3:09

       ... focused and motivated, and like you say, it's just... It looks like death.
3. 4:12 – 6:23

   Megatherium and the allure of “maybe it’s still out there” animals

   1. JRJoe Rogan4:12

      I remember there was a documentary about this guy who was a scientist who was obsessed. It was a biologist, and he was obsessed with, uh, the giant sloth.

   2. FGForrest Galante4:20

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan4:21

      And he was spending all of his time down in the Amazon. He'd been down there for years, and, uh, th- the, the, the documentary was following him at this stage where he was getting really frustrated and not sure if he's wasting his career.

   4. FGForrest Galante4:33

      Right.

   5. JRJoe Rogan4:33

      Like, there was this feeling, like, "Fuck, this thing might not be real."

   6. FGForrest Galante4:36

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan4:36

      Like, 'cause they would tell him, "Yeah, I saw it. It was over the hill." You know?

   8. FGForrest Galante4:39

      (laughs)

   9. JRJoe Rogan4:39

      And, and, and he's like, "Uh, you sure you saw it?"

   10. FGForrest Galante4:41

       Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan4:42

       And they would... You know, they'd bring these people in. They would speak their native tongue, and they'd have this discussion of this thing that they saw-

   12. FGForrest Galante4:47

       Yep.

   13. JRJoe Rogan4:47

       ... two years ago.

   14. FGForrest Galante4:48

       Yep.

   15. JRJoe Rogan4:48

       It was big like a bear, you know?

   16. FGForrest Galante4:50

       Walks on its hind leg.

   17. JRJoe Rogan4:51

       Yeah.

   18. FGForrest Galante4:51

       M- megatherium, yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan4:52

       Yeah.

   20. FGForrest Galante4:52

       They're, uh... I... We discussed this briefly last time I saw you, I think.

   21. JRJoe Rogan4:55

       Right.

   22. FGForrest Galante4:55

       It's funny. We got straight back to the same, (laughs) same wildlife stuff. Um, but yeah, no. It's... Who knows, right? Who knows if it's still out there. There's definitely ongoing reports, so much so that... I forget what university, but some university actually launched an, uh, an expedition to try and find the megatherium, so-

   23. JRJoe Rogan5:11

       Really? Recently?

   24. FGForrest Galante5:12

       It's not... Uh, I'd have to look it up. Probably 10 years ago now.

   25. JRJoe Rogan5:15

       Oh.

   26. FGForrest Galante5:15

       Not that long ago, but, but, you know, if an academic institution is putting resources behind an expedition like that, there's a lot of faith and maybe even intel that they're not releasing publicly to say this animal's still here.

   27. JRJoe Rogan5:27

       Wow. That would be crazy. Like-

   28. FGForrest Galante5:29

       Wouldn't it?

   29. JRJoe Rogan5:29

       ... how big was a giant sloth?

   30. FGForrest Galante5:31

       Uh, well, there's a couple varieties. Like, the... There was a North American one that was enormous, like bigger than a grizzly bear.
4. 6:23 – 10:53

   Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger): credible sightings, expeditions, and Papua New Guinea theory

   1. JRJoe Rogan6:23

      People love finding undiscovered or mythical creatures that turn out to be... Like the, uh, Tasmanian tiger.

   2. FGForrest Galante6:31

      Right.

   3. JRJoe Rogan6:31

      Like, that's a perfect example.

   4. FGForrest Galante6:33

      Yep.

   5. JRJoe Rogan6:33

      Like people l- they love to try to f- what is it, thylacine or something?

   6. FGForrest Galante6:37

      Thylacine, yep.

   7. JRJoe Rogan6:37

      People love to try to find that thing.

   8. FGForrest Galante6:39

      Yep.

   9. JRJoe Rogan6:39

      Like the idea that it's out there, it's like, what is it about people where it's so compelling to find a species that we were... we thought didn't exist or we thought was extinct, like whether it's Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster or the thylacine which we know used to be real?

   10. FGForrest Galante6:55

       Right. Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan6:56

       It's...

   12. FGForrest Galante6:57

       I, I mean, what do you think? I think that people que- you know, they long for the unknown, and there's this big question mark surrounding cryptids or surrounding extinct animals as to whether it's still out there, and that's so much more inviting to the general... uh, to the general populace to get an answer to than knowing, "Oh, you know, there's 700 of them left and we're trying to get them up to 1,400," or whatever the species dynamic is for some other animal, as opposed to being like, "There could be one out there."

   13. JRJoe Rogan7:24

       Yeah.

   14. FGForrest Galante7:24

       "Where is it?" And I personally, I've been on two different expeditions looking for thylacine.

   15. JRJoe Rogan7:28

       Really?

   16. FGForrest Galante7:28

       Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I did one in Northern Australia up north of Cairns, and then one I spent, uh, a couple weeks in Tasmania with a amazing biologist, Nick Mooney, who, uh, he's adamant that he's seen thylacine and he's a biologist. This isn't... You know, someone who worked as a biologist that was out in the wilderness going, "Yeah. Yeah. I've seen thylacine." And he was terrified to tell everybody, and that's, that tells me that it's more credible, right?

   17. JRJoe Rogan7:53

       Oh.

   18. FGForrest Galante7:53

       If you're scared to tell people because of your reputation as opposed to like going out there going, "I saw it. I saw it. I saw it."

   19. JRJoe Rogan7:59

       Right.

   20. FGForrest Galante7:59

       That becomes more credible than the people who are just waving their arms in the air going, "I told you it's here."

   21. JRJoe Rogan8:04

       When did he come out of the thylacine closet?

   22. FGForrest Galante8:06

       Uh-

   23. JRJoe Rogan8:06

       Like were you scared to tell people? When did... Oh, God.

   24. FGForrest Galante8:09

       Yeah. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan8:09

       I gotta go public with this.

   26. FGForrest Galante8:11

       Um, I'm not sure if, if he told us first or if it was public, uh, right before then, but not long ago. I mean, maybe 10 years ago.

   27. JRJoe Rogan8:20

       Yeah. It's such a cool looking animal too, because it, it was a marsupial tiger, right?

   28. FGForrest Galante8:24

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan8:24

       Or a marsupial predator or whatever.

   30. FGForrest Galante8:26

       It's like a marsupial wolf m- with tiger stripes. It's so bizarre and it had this amazing, um, jaw that would open like, like a snake's.
5. 10:53 – 15:27

   Cute animals, brutal realities: koalas, sea otters, polar bears, and human interference

   1. JRJoe Rogan10:53

      Yeah.

   2. FGForrest Galante10:53

      You get the idea.

   3. JRJoe Rogan10:53

      Well, the- the whole environment in Australia is so strange and now because of the wildfires, you know, there's a lot of species, like that was... We were just talking the other day about the koala bears.

   4. FGForrest Galante11:02

      Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan11:03

      That the, uh, koala bears, a lot of their habitat got burnt in, uh, a lot of these fires. It's really sad to see-

   6. FGForrest Galante11:08

      Really sad.

   7. JRJoe Rogan11:08

      ... koala bears are on fire and they're like singed.

   8. FGForrest Galante11:10

      And they're like losing their fur. It's awful.

   9. JRJoe Rogan11:12

      Yeah. It's... They're such a little cute little animal.

   10. FGForrest Galante11:14

       They are. But, um, and I don't have a lot of firsthand experience with them (laughs) , but my understanding is they're actual jerks. Like-

   11. JRJoe Rogan11:19

       Really?

   12. FGForrest Galante11:19

       ... they're really cute and cuddly looking, but their behavior is pretty aggressive and jerkish, and I don't know enough about them to really comment on it. But my understanding is it- it's kinda like sea otters, right? Do you know about this thing with sea otters?

   13. JRJoe Rogan11:32

       What about them?

   14. FGForrest Galante11:32

       So like everybody loves sea otters. They're so cute. They're so cuddly.

   15. JRJoe Rogan11:36

       Right.

   16. FGForrest Galante11:36

       Sea otters are super destructive. They rape each other.

   17. JRJoe Rogan11:39

       (laughs)

   18. FGForrest Galante11:39

       Like they're- they're like gnarly animals. (laughs) They're like not that sweet at all. (laughs)

   19. JRJoe Rogan11:44

       (laughs) Isn't that the thing with pandas too? Like pandas are ruthless.

   20. FGForrest Galante11:47

       Yeah, totally.

   21. JRJoe Rogan11:47

       Yeah.

   22. FGForrest Galante11:48

       But you look at them and you're like, "Oh, I wanna cuddle it."

   23. JRJoe Rogan11:50

       Adorable.

   24. FGForrest Galante11:50

       Yeah. (laughs)

   25. JRJoe Rogan11:51

       Little sweetie pie.

   26. FGForrest Galante11:53

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan11:53

       My, um, youngest daughter is really into polar bears.

   28. FGForrest Galante11:56

       Oh yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan11:56

       She thinks polar bears are adorable and she wanted to get like a stuffed polar bear.

   30. FGForrest Galante12:00

       Uh-huh.
6. 15:27 – 21:52

   Risky wildlife work, shark injuries, and why shark numbers are changing off California

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:27

      You've been bitten by a shark?

   2. FGForrest Galante15:28

      Just this year. I mean, it's pretty minor, but just this year I, I took a single tooth-

   3. JRJoe Rogan15:32

      Ay-yi-yi.

   4. FGForrest Galante15:32

      ... from, uh, a lemon shark while I was working in the field with one.

   5. JRJoe Rogan15:35

      Dude, lemme see that. Fuck, man.

   6. FGForrest Galante15:38

      It's actually, it's on my Instagram page, I think. You can pull it up.

   7. JRJoe Rogan15:40

      What's, uh, what's below ... What's the scar below it?

   8. FGForrest Galante15:42

      Oh, that's not a scar. I burned myself cooking crab last night on a pot.

   9. JRJoe Rogan15:45

      (laughs)

   10. JVJamie Vernon15:46

       (laughs)

   11. FGForrest Galante15:46

       I should've only rolled this shirt down to here.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:48

       Yeah, that's not quite as romantic.

   13. FGForrest Galante15:48

       Or made up a better story. (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan15:50

       Dude, I burned the top of my foot, uh, cooking spaghetti.

   15. FGForrest Galante15:53

       There ... Yeah, there you go. (laughs)

   16. JRJoe Rogan15:54

       Uh, I was moving the b- ... Some ... Such a moron. I was moving the b- ... I was cooking barefoot. I was moving the boiling water with the spaghetti in it to the sink, you know, to put it in the strainer.

   17. FGForrest Galante16:04

       (gasps)

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:04

       And I spilled it on the top of my foot.

   19. FGForrest Galante16:07

       Oh.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:07

       Wa- ... And I had to keep my shit together 'cause I was holding the pot.

   21. FGForrest Galante16:10

       (laughs)

   22. JRJoe Rogan16:10

       I was like, "Fuck." And then I poured it in there and then we were going to Hawaii the next day.

   23. FGForrest Galante16:15

       Oh, no.

   24. JRJoe Rogan16:16

       So while I was in Hawaii, I had to have, like, ointment over the top of my foot-

   25. FGForrest Galante16:20

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan16:20

       ... a bandage on it, and I went into the ocean with my, uh, my Chucks on.

   27. FGForrest Galante16:24

       Yeah, the-

   28. JRJoe Rogan16:24

       I wore my Converse All Stars in the ocean.

   29. JVJamie Vernon16:26

       (laughs)

   30. JRJoe Rogan16:26

       I was like, "Look, uh, look, I have to cover it." Like, "I'll just do this and then I'll just clean it after I go in." I'm like, "I'm not gonna not go in the ocean, man. I'm in fucking Hawaii."
7. 21:52 – 26:13

   Whales and orcas: intelligence, diet specializations, and ecosystem “Jenga”

   1. JRJoe Rogan21:52

      We did New Year's in Hawaii last year-

   2. FGForrest Galante21:54

      Uh-huh.

   3. JRJoe Rogan21:54

      ... and we got to see some whales.

   4. FGForrest Galante21:56

      Nice.

   5. JRJoe Rogan21:56

      Dude, that is, it's, we were real close.

   6. FGForrest Galante21:58

      Yeah.

   7. JRJoe Rogan21:58

      It's so wild, man. They're so big.

   8. FGForrest Galante22:01

      Aren't they?

   9. JRJoe Rogan22:02

      They're so big and so beautiful. It's like, it's, it's, you're so happy that they're there.

   10. FGForrest Galante22:07

       Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan22:07

       You know?

   12. FGForrest Galante22:08

       Right.

   13. JRJoe Rogan22:08

       And, and it's, uh, the, the, whales are one of those weird ones where you, where you're looking at it and you're like, "Am I seeing this?"

   14. FGForrest Galante22:13

       (laughs)

   15. JRJoe Rogan22:13

       "Is this really a whale in the water?" Like-

   16. FGForrest Galante22:16

       Right.

   17. JRJoe Rogan22:16

       ... they're so magical.

   18. FGForrest Galante22:17

       Yeah.

   19. JRJoe Rogan22:17

       You know?

   20. FGForrest Galante22:18

       And so intelligent.

   21. JRJoe Rogan22:18

       Yeah.

   22. FGForrest Galante22:18

       That's what's amazing, like, they're, you know, the, the general consensus is that they're restricted by their morphology. Like, their body type doesn't allow them to share with us how much more intelligent they are than we really realize.

   23. JRJoe Rogan22:29

       Mm, right.

   24. FGForrest Galante22:30

       But we know a little bit, you know, we know how they can sing across oceans and communicate and all get together and, you know, ugh, it's amazing. Synchronizing the way they swim.

   25. JRJoe Rogan22:38

       Yeah.

   26. FGForrest Galante22:38

       Amazing creatures.

   27. JRJoe Rogan22:39

       Well, and then there's orcas who eat them.

   28. FGForrest Galante22:42

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan22:42

       Which is even more fucked up-

   30. FGForrest Galante22:43

       Mm-hmm.
8. 26:13 – 31:14

   Invasive species ethics: Hawaii’s pigs, Lanai’s axis deer, and feral pig expansion in the U.S.

   1. JRJoe Rogan26:13

      That is an interesting way of looking at it, right? You know, they were talking about, uh, Hawaii, you know, and all these different invasive species that live in Hawaii, and, uh, there was this discussion about pigs.

   2. FGForrest Galante26:24

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JRJoe Rogan26:25

      And they were saying, you know, like, "We should really take the pigs off of Hawaii," and a lot of the people in Hawaii are like, "Hang on."

   4. FGForrest Galante26:31

      Right. (laughs)

   5. JRJoe Rogan26:32

      "We've been here as long as the pigs."

   6. FGForrest Galante26:34

      Right.

   7. JRJoe Rogan26:34

      "So, like, are we invasive?"

   8. FGForrest Galante26:36

      Right.

   9. JRJoe Rogan26:36

      Like, "What's invasive now?"

   10. FGForrest Galante26:38

       Right.

   11. JRJoe Rogan26:38

       Like, when does it become... Because obviously, like, luaus, they're synonymous with, like, eating pigs.

   12. FGForrest Galante26:44

       Huge.

   13. JRJoe Rogan26:44

       And wild pigs are a, a big part of, you know, the, the people that hunt in Hawaii.

   14. FGForrest Galante26:50

       Mm-hmm.

   15. JRJoe Rogan26:50

       That's a... Their food source.

   16. FGForrest Galante26:51

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan26:51

       So they, they're like, "Well, would it..." But then you have a situation like Lanai, where I go every year.

   18. FGForrest Galante26:56

       The axis deer?

   19. JRJoe Rogan26:57

       Yeah, which is terrible.

   20. FGForrest Galante26:59

       Mm-hmm.

   21. JRJoe Rogan26:59

       Environmentally, it's a disaster.

   22. FGForrest Galante27:01

       Right.

   23. JRJoe Rogan27:01

       Like, it's, it's all wrong.

   24. FGForrest Galante27:03

       Right.

   25. JRJoe Rogan27:03

       There are 30,000 deer on this one island.

   26. FGForrest Galante27:05

       That many?

   27. JRJoe Rogan27:06

       30,000.

   28. FGForrest Galante27:07

       Good Lord.

   29. JRJoe Rogan27:07

       They don't know, really. They're d- they're-

   30. FGForrest Galante27:08

       Right.
9. 31:14 – 36:58

   Warthogs to ‘barbarossa’ pigs: bizarre evolution and “extinct” subspecies rumors

   1. FGForrest Galante31:14

      Yeah, yeah, I grew up there. I grew up in Zimbabwe.

   2. JRJoe Rogan31:16

      Oh, that's right.

   3. FGForrest Galante31:17

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan31:17

      That's right. Yeah.

   5. FGForrest Galante31:18

      So I got, I actually got a pretty funny story about a war- warthog. Uh, my uncle, uh, my, my mom's brother, we were out on safari one time and he was, he was young. You know, he's m- he was much younger than my mother, so he was maybe a teenager or something, and he grabbed this plum and started going for a walk across camp. And anyway, this warthog decided it wanted this plum, and so it came trotting after my uncle and started chasing him in circles around this tree. But my uncle was so panicked by this thing chasing him around this big baobab tree that he wouldn't drop the plum.

   6. JRJoe Rogan31:49

      Oh, Jesus.

   7. FGForrest Galante31:49

      So he's just in this perpetual cycle of being, of being (laughs) chased around this tree until he eventually threw the plum and the warthog just veered off and went for the plum. (laughs)

   8. JRJoe Rogan31:58

      Lucky it didn't want him.

   9. FGForrest Galante31:59

      Yeah. (laughs) They're, they're very funny, very mischievous. I love the way their tails stick up through the grass when they're running around.

   10. JRJoe Rogan32:05

       They're weird looking.

   11. FGForrest Galante32:07

       Very.

   12. JRJoe Rogan32:07

       Like, they, they're, they're, they're related to pigs, right? In some sort of way?

   13. FGForrest Galante32:10

       Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, they're all that same family. Speaking of weird pigs, are you familiar with the barbarossa?

   14. JRJoe Rogan32:14

       No.

   15. FGForrest Galante32:15

       This is one we should pull up.

   16. JRJoe Rogan32:17

       Barbarossa?

   17. FGForrest Galante32:17

       You're gonna love this animal. Yeah. You're gonna love this. It, it, it's one of my top bucket list animals to see in the wild.

   18. JRJoe Rogan32:24

       It's a great name.

   19. FGForrest Galante32:25

       Yeah.

   20. JRJoe Rogan32:25

       Barbarossa.

   21. FGForrest Galante32:26

       You gotta... I, I, I don't even wanna tell you what it is until you see the image-

   22. JRJoe Rogan32:28

       Sounds good.

   23. FGForrest Galante32:28

       ... because you're gonna be like, "No way that's real." It looks like something outta Star Wars.

   24. JRJoe Rogan32:32

       Really?

   25. FGForrest Galante32:32

       Mm-hmm. And it's a pig.

   26. JRJoe Rogan32:33

       Where does it live?

   27. FGForrest Galante32:34

       Indonesia.

   28. JRJoe Rogan32:36

       How big does it get?

   29. FGForrest Galante32:37

       Uh, maybe 200 pounds. I'm not positive on the size, but-

   30. JRJoe Rogan32:40

       Whoa!
10. 36:58 – 45:54

    Orang Pendek, hidden hominids, and Vietnam’s Son Doong mega-cave as a ‘missing habitat’

    1. JRJoe Rogan36:58

       You ... Have you ever heard of the orang pendek?

    2. FGForrest Galante37:01

       Oh, what is ... This is like a ... This is a cryptid, right?

    3. JRJoe Rogan37:04

       Yes.

    4. FGForrest Galante37:05

       What is ... I- I've heard of this word.

    5. JRJoe Rogan37:06

       It's a little tiny monkey person.

    6. FGForrest Galante37:07

       That's right. Did we talk about this last time?

    7. JRJoe Rogan37:09

       Yeah.

    8. FGForrest Galante37:09

       We might have.

    9. JRJoe Rogan37:10

       Perhaps.

    10. FGForrest Galante37:10

        Yeah.

    11. JRJoe Rogan37:10

        Well, I'm very repetitive.

    12. FGForrest Galante37:11

        That's okay. I don't mind. (laughs)

    13. JRJoe Rogan37:13

        (laughs)

    14. FGForrest Galante37:13

        It's, it's still fun. It's not in my wheelhouse, you know?

    15. JRJoe Rogan37:16

        Yeah.

    16. FGForrest Galante37:16

        Like the, the cryptids, the Loch Ness Monsters.

    17. JRJoe Rogan37:18

        I think that one, they think, is in Vietnam. Um, I think it's in Vietnam and s- maybe some other parts of Southeast Asia and, um, the, the, the ... Most people thought it was nonsense-

    18. FGForrest Galante37:28

        Mm-hmm.

    19. JRJoe Rogan37:28

        ... until the homo floresiensis-

    20. FGForrest Galante37:32

        Mm-hmm.

    21. JRJoe Rogan37:32

        ... until they found out about that hobbit person that lives in the island of Flores and then they're like, "Okay, hold on." Or lived, I should say.

    22. FGForrest Galante37:38

        Right, right.

    23. JRJoe Rogan37:38

        As recently as 14,000 years ago, right? So when they found out about that thing, they're like, "Well, may- maybe these little fuckers are still hanging around-"

    24. FGForrest Galante37:46

        (laughs)

    25. JRJoe Rogan37:47

        ... out there somewhere."

    26. FGForrest Galante37:47

        Yeah.

    27. JRJoe Rogan37:48

        Just you're dealing with incredibly dense jungle and they're very wary. If you're a person stomping through the jungle, something that lives there hears you a mile away.

    28. FGForrest Galante37:56

        For sure.

    29. JRJoe Rogan37:56

        You, you, you're not sneaking up on a monkey.

    30. FGForrest Galante37:58

        No. No. Well, we ... This year, um, I went into Son Doong, which is the world's largest cave. That was only discovered in 1995. It's this massive opening, six miles of underground cave. You know, you don't see daylight for two days.
11. 45:54 – 58:18

    Bronx Zoo human exhibit, chupacabra-thylacine lore, and private exotic animal ownership

    1. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       But didn't they do that with an African man in the Bronx Zoo in like the turn of the century?

    2. FGForrest Galante45:59

       They put an African man in the Bronx Zoo?

    3. JRJoe Rogan46:01

       Yes, they did. Yeah, they had an African man. I believe it was the Bronx Zoo.

    4. FGForrest Galante46:06

       Oh, my goodness.

    5. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       In like the 1800s or the early 1900s.

    6. JVJamie Vernon46:10

       Pigme?

    7. JRJoe Rogan46:11

       A pigmy?

    8. JVJamie Vernon46:11

       Yeah, Ota Benga.

    9. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       What year was it?

    10. JVJamie Vernon46:13

        1906.

    11. JRJoe Rogan46:14

        Oh, God.

    12. FGForrest Galante46:15

        Wow.

    13. JRJoe Rogan46:15

        Yeah, it's ... They had him in the zoo, man.

    14. FGForrest Galante46:17

        (laughs) That's- that's insane.

    15. JRJoe Rogan46:19

        Look at that.

    16. FGForrest Galante46:20

        Wow.

    17. JRJoe Rogan46:21

        Dude's in the zoo. Yeah. Well, you know what, man? People were just figuring life out back then.

    18. FGForrest Galante46:26

        Right. Right.

    19. JRJoe Rogan46:27

        This- this is the reality of human beings, is that we have not been alive that long-

    20. FGForrest Galante46:32

        Right.

    21. JRJoe Rogan46:33

        ... and we have not been civilized, in terms of how we view the world today, with inclusivity and objectivity and care, and, you know, kindness to- towards others. Like, this compassion and altruism.

    22. FGForrest Galante46:46

        Mm-hmm.

    23. JRJoe Rogan46:46

        This is ... On a- on a global scale, this is fairly recent.

    24. FGForrest Galante46:50

        Yeah. We're figuring things out-

    25. JRJoe Rogan46:51

        Yeah.

    26. FGForrest Galante46:51

        ... as we go. I mean, the- history's a perfect ... It can show you how we've progressed.

    27. JRJoe Rogan46:55

        Yeah.

    28. FGForrest Galante46:56

        You know? It's a document- documentation of how we've progressed.

    29. JRJoe Rogan46:58

        But yet, still.

    30. FGForrest Galante47:00

        It's still fucked up.
12. 58:18 – 1:04:16

    Africa, conservation economics, and Forrest’s Zimbabwe experience with corruption and displacement

    1. FGForrest Galante58:18

       There's no, you know, having walked kinda through the wild basic- in a lot of different places, there's nowhere I've been like Africa, where you're so like, "Okay, I'm just a part of the food system now."

    2. JRJoe Rogan58:29

       Yeah.

    3. FGForrest Galante58:29

       Like, "I'm not at the top anymore." Like, "I'm in the food web." You know? Lions can be hunting me, elephants can charge, uh, there's leopards in the trees. You know what I mean? You're just like, you just fit into the food web, you're not at the top of it any longer.

    4. JRJoe Rogan58:41

       Yeah, it's such a w- a weird place too when it comes to wildlife, when, you know, they brought so many animals back from the brink of extinction a- on- only because they have value for hunting.

    5. FGForrest Galante58:52

       Right. Right.

    6. JRJoe Rogan58:53

       It's so, it's so torn, you're, everyone's so torn on that because it's, on one hand, like you would, you would love it if people donated enough money to keep these animals healthy and, uh, y- keep them in good populations because we appreciate them.

    7. FGForrest Galante59:06

       Right.

    8. JRJoe Rogan59:06

       But that's not really the case. It's mostly people that wanna shoot them that are paying money, and because they have value, now their populations are so large.

    9. FGForrest Galante59:15

       Yep.

    10. JRJoe Rogan59:16

        And so everyone's like, really torn on that. They're like, "Ugh, this is weird." And it's-

    11. FGForrest Galante59:20

        Even hunters are torn on it.

    12. JRJoe Rogan59:22

        Because-

    13. FGForrest Galante59:22

        And it's full spectrum be- sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you.

    14. JRJoe Rogan59:24

        No, it's okay because they're all fenced in, I was gonna say.

    15. FGForrest Galante59:26

        Right. Right.

    16. JRJoe Rogan59:26

        So it's not, like when you think of hunting, you think of, "I'm going to go to the wild."

    17. FGForrest Galante59:31

        Right.

    18. JRJoe Rogan59:31

        "And I'm gonna experience these animals." But no, these animals like, they're making sure there's a large population of them because Mike from Cleveland-

    19. FGForrest Galante59:38

        (laughs)

    20. JRJoe Rogan59:38

        ... is coming over there with his Creedmoor and he's gonna, you know, shoot some.

    21. FGForrest Galante59:41

        Yeah. And it's such a spectrum is what I was going to say because you have these national parks that absolutely do work, people pay enough money for tourism, ecotourism dollars to do photo safaris, and the wildlife's managed.

    22. JRJoe Rogan59:52

        Mm-hmm.

    23. FGForrest Galante59:53

        You have these other areas that are managed by hunting dollars and they're managed beautifully well, they're sustaining animals, they're, they're reproducing them and they're, they're putting them in other habitats and ecosystems in parts of Africa. And then you have ones that are supposed to be managed properly both from ecotourism and hunting dollars, and they're just, uh, they're funding people's pockets, the animals are getting devastated, it's super unethical-

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

        Mm.

    25. FGForrest Galante1:00:14

        ... and it's, and everything in between. And that's the problem with Africa is like, you know, I'm all for hunting as a tool for conservation if it keeps the species around and keeps the, the animals up, but you gotta be careful where you're going and where those dollars are going because it's so easy to line someone's pocket and it never returns to the species.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:00:30

        Yeah, there's a giant issue with corruption there.

    27. FGForrest Galante1:00:33

        Huge.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:00:33

        Yeah.

    29. FGForrest Galante1:00:33

        Huge. Yeah. I mean, the, the-

    30. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

        Then we have poverty, right?
13. 1:04:16 – 1:13:30

    Galápagos miracle: finding the Fernandina Island tortoise and building a recovery plan

    1. FGForrest Galante1:04:16

       Yeah, yeah. Um, so the last time I saw you, I think was right before we headed to the Galapagos. I was telling you about-

    2. JRJoe Rogan1:04:22

       Oh, yes.

    3. FGForrest Galante1:04:22

       ... that crazy island we went on.

    4. JRJoe Rogan1:04:23

       Yes.

    5. FGForrest Galante1:04:23

       We found that tortoise. Did you know that?

    6. JRJoe Rogan1:04:25

       Really?

    7. FGForrest Galante1:04:25

       Yeah. First, only one specimen has ever been found before 114 years ago, and we found the second one. We s- we, the, the, the biggest discovery of my entire career was the week after I saw you last.

    8. JRJoe Rogan1:04:37

       Wow.

    9. FGForrest Galante1:04:38

       Yeah. It was amazing.

    10. JRJoe Rogan1:04:39

        What kind of tortoise is this?

    11. FGForrest Galante1:04:41

        The Fernandina Island tortoise, big Galapagos tortoise on this crazy active volcano on far remote Galapagos. We had gnarly sunstroke, heatstroke, I mean everything, and after a few days of hiking up and down this volcano, we, we found scat and then we found a, a dig like a tortoise had been digging, and 15 minutes later we found the animal.

    12. JRJoe Rogan1:05:00

        Well, I mean how many of them are in the wild?

    13. FGForrest Galante1:05:02

        There's a return trip that just, one return trip just went right now, and then another one will go in January. But what's great is on the first return trip, they had to bail because of weather, and the weather is very harsh there. Um, they found evidence of two more animals, so things are looking really good.

    14. JRJoe Rogan1:05:19

        So there might be like four alive on the planet?

    15. FGForrest Galante1:05:22

        W- well right now there's one, the one we found.

    16. JRJoe Rogan1:05:24

        Ah.

    17. FGForrest Galante1:05:24

        She's literally the rarest animal in the world.

    18. JRJoe Rogan1:05:26

        Let me, do you have an image of this?

    19. FGForrest Galante1:05:28

        Uh, there's, it's on my-

    20. JRJoe Rogan1:05:29

        On Instagram?

    21. FGForrest Galante1:05:29

        ... Instagram, but it was on Forbes, Times New York, you know, everywhere. It was like big, big stuff, so you can-

    22. JRJoe Rogan1:05:34

        So-

    23. FGForrest Galante1:05:34

        ... look up Fernandina Island tortoise, you'll find it.

    24. JRJoe Rogan1:05:36

        ... when you find something like that, what gets done to ensure the, the population remains?

    25. FGForrest Galante1:05:41

        There she is.

    26. JRJoe Rogan1:05:41

        There it is. Wow.

    27. FGForrest Galante1:05:42

        We got little pigments.

    28. JRJoe Rogan1:05:43

        So how did you know? What i- what's the distinguishing, uh, factors? Like what, what's-

Episode duration: 2:46:03