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Joe Rogan Experience #1927 - Forrest Galante

Forrest Galante is an international wildlife adventurer, conservationist, author of "Still Alive: A Wild Life of Rediscovery" and host on Discovery Channel. www.instagram.com/forrest.galante

Joe RoganhostForrest Galanteguest
Jun 26, 20242h 36mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Cryptids, Cloned Mammoths, and Conservation: Rogan and Galante Roam Wild

  1. 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.
  2. They discuss plausible ‘cryptids’ like thylacines, giant sloths, and enormous snakes, contrasting them with misidentifications, hoaxes, and cultural lore around Bigfoot and humanoid creatures.
  3. 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.
  4. 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

5 ideas

Many ‘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.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

We 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

Cryptids, extant megafauna, and misidentifications (thylacine, Orang Pendek, giant snakes, Bigfoot lore)Challenges of wildlife detection and field biology in remote habitats (Papua New Guinea, Amazon, Borneo, Arctic)De‑extinction and rewilding: Colossal Biosciences, woolly mammoths, thylacines, and ecosystem engineeringHuman–wildlife conflict and population management (wolves, bears, bison, pigs, introduced species)Diet, carnivore eating, organ meats, and how modern food systems distort nutrition scienceIndustrial ecological damage: palm oil monoculture, ocean overfishing, cobalt and rare‑earth extractionDisease, extinction events, and how narratives about pandemics and past die‑offs shape current risk perception

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