A VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE. I have had a lot of comments, justifiably, being concerned and unsure about the whole “Galante is not a true biologist” thing. I don’t think it was that well-described in the video, and new things have come to light in my research and discussing with one of my consultants regarding that part of the video. We both agreed that it was not done well. Please allow me to clarify the truth on Galante’s biology experience, whether or not he truly is a biologist, and what it means for what is said in the video. 1. Has Galante actually practiced biological work? Yes. He did field work for a few years prior to his appearances on television, especially before Extinct or Alive. Galante also has stated that his senior thesis paper did get published, but this could not be verified. This is something that I missed in my initial stretch of research and it does largely make my argument in that video, in relation to what I said at least, null and void. I apologize for my ignorance on this. 2. Is Galante a biologist? This is very subjective. So let’s look at it from both angles. Forrest Galante has done actual field work in biology for a few years prior to his work on Extinct or Alive. As a result, based on said work, he could be called a biologist. I would not debate with you on this. On the other hand, that was then, not now. He hasn’t gone back into the field since his work on Extinct or Alive 6+ years ago now. None of his “rediscoveries” were published, which is VERY important for verifying their existence and solidifying a basis for their protection. Also, somewhat unrelated but NEEDS to be stated, biology degree does automatically mean you're a biologist. I don’t know what else to tell you. Plenty of people get degrees that have absolutely nothing to do with the career they eventually go in. If you get a degree in mechanical engineering, and your lot in life ends up with you working as a truck driver for a company, you’re not a mechanical engineer. That’s how it works. Galante going out in the wild, finding, and talking about animals is not him being a biologist. That is science communication and being a wildlife enthusiast. I personally would still not call Forrest Galante a biologist. I could agree to him being one in the past, but he’s not anymore. If you want to consider him a biologist still, that is perfectly valid. 3. Does this give Galante leeway in relation to his actions in this video? Absolutely not. If you still don’t consider him a biologist, nothing changes. If you do, then it’s arguably WORSE because it means that he should be way more professional in his methods than he has been. At that point, he would be held to a standard where he absolutely should be held accountable for such behavior. The caiman situation alone would completely discredit him as a trustworthy scientist, let alone everything else that has happened ontop of that. There is also the fact that, regardless of his status as a biologist or not, when Galante regards himself as one, he gives himself this illusion of professionalism to the general public that results in him being questioned much less than he really should. He ends up being put on this pedestal by the general public and online forums that makes people simply not question him, because in their minds he’s doing actual science and animal conservation, when he hasn’t for as long as people have actually known about him, and at times has actively harmed the field as well.

Hey look ma it's me!

This is more a context comment for those watching. While yes Galante has a degree in biology he's never published a single scientific paper about any of the animals that he's "discovered" and some of you might think well he's to busy to write papers between going on week long excursions to other countries for his TV show for 8-10 weeks when his show was still on then sitting around and doing podcasts and KZfaq videos for the rest of the year. To that, I raise you one person who did more for conservation the Galante ever has, has published papers that you can find right now even though he had no degree in anything, and did this while operating a zoo, doing television, and helping rescue animals in trouble due to human encroachment into wild areas. Steve irwin

Someone needs to get Penguinz0 into this.

I can already tell that this video is going to get taken down due to "copyright infringement"

I saw a comment on beaver’s vid: “If you see a Tasmanian tiger, For their sake no the fuck you didnt”

He also said to Joe Rogan that the Green Anaconda was the longest snake, while the reticulated python was the heaviest. While it's just a tiny mistake, this is a mistake that I would think a wildlife biologist wouldn't make. I have no professional value as a biologist or zoologist, but as an animal lover, I've known that the green anaconda was the heaviest, and the retic was the longest since I was less than 10 years old.

In Spain, we have a well known public figure ""similar"" to Galante, Frank Cuesta. Unlike Galante, however, he actually doesn't claim to be a biologist or anything fancy, he just sees himself as a guy who happens to work with animals

This is a problem I’ve been stating for a long time, the caiman credit stealing annoys me the most not only because I know the biologist a bit who found the caiman originally but well, look at me.

So, he is basically a real life Gilderoy Lockhart, huh.

What was the deal with that dwarf hippo skull he pulled out of that Madagascar swamp? I always thought it strange there was no discussion anywhere about that whole situation because it seemed like if that was legit it was kind of a big deal. So is the prevailing theory he just straight up planted that skull there or what?

He claimed on JRE that his medical team gave "dewormer" to a native tribe to treat "ringworm" which is not a worm, but a fungus

People in the scientific community like Galante just straight up make me mad. It'd be like if I said I was a shark biologist because i am the one who found hammerheads in california and make up bull about how everyone else just stole my work

Thylacine drama was not on my 2024 bingo card The thing with any reports of it in New Guinea is that the New Guinea Singing Dog is already found in the highlands of the island which is similar sized and could be accidentally or deliberately misidentified as the Thylacine Not saying it’s impossible for Thylacine to be in rural New Guinea and it’s definitely the most likely place for them to be but I would take any reports from there with a very large grain of salt

I remembered Forrest Galante when he first appeared on an episode of Naked & Afraid and he was paired to a chick that couldn't stand him. He wouldn't stop talking about all that he knew and about himself. After this show, all of the sudden Discovery gave him the show Extinct or Alive. There was something about him that did not sit well with me...and here is the proof. Thank you for exposing him.

Glad to have helped with the research for this! It's important to recognize that documentaries often prioritize entertainment over education and conservation, so these programs are not something to really take at face value. We always encourage digging deeper into understanding matters, and hopefully this video has helped teach many viewers about what behavior can constitute as red flags when determining if a wildlife host truly does practice solid wildlife science and conservation.

I finally spoke with Forrest last year about his shenanigans and he made thin excuses for everything. I suggested that, if he truly cared and wasn't a schmuck, he should follow through and support Sergio's work like he promised, after he stole credit for the Rio Apaporis caiman rediscovery. He agreed, I sent him Sergio's email and phone number, reminded Forrest about it after 3 weeks, and...crickets. He seems like a kind person when you talk to him but his ego seems fragile and hes obviously willing to compromise his integrity for fame. He works within a deplorable moral schema but, to be fair, it's almost like he's just a dumb puppet, blissfully unaware of how unacceptable his behavior is

I am a biologist, and I only first heard of this schmuck when the Galapagos tortoise thing went down. Sad to see how much deeper it all goes and how many people he's misleading. Glad to see someone covering it

I didn't expect to appear in this video 😅. (I'm one of the lead volunteers for Crocfest and was actually there in that photo you posted, when we gave Sergio an award for his discovery and contribution to the caiman research) I'm very glad you made this video and I promise it sums up how many of us were feeling that night.

I know a lot about animals and paleontology and such, but I would absolutely not call myself a biologist. I’m just a simple teenager in high school

His use of ai art drives me bonkers. I’ve personally heard of Forrest’s misdeeds before, but I hadn’t heard of the whole Caiman and tortoise situation in detail. I do not regret calling him a grifter.

God dammit, i really really liked Forrest too. Watching Extinct or Alive on repeat really helped during COVID just bc they were cool It sucks so hard to see this. I hope he doesnt continue down whatever path this video's gonna detail us on

Why do I have a feeling that forest might strike down this video? I really hope he doesn’t

I’ve seen his stuff more recently, and tho i do have some respects for him. My issue is, compared to people like Nigel marven who put their legit charm and personality to the screen, giving education that feels believable and genuine. Forrest in the other hand feels more like a show man than a actual wildlife biologist. Often exaggerating his words and statements that can feel… questionable . Tho I want to believe as much as everyone does that many of these recently extinct are still around, he still needs to be careful with his words

If anyone has any further questions feel free to ask here. In hindsight I do feel like I might’ve gone by a bit quick with some things or didn’t describe it as well as I could have. I’m trying to be as informative as possible so anyone that is unsure on anything fire away.

The Butch Hartman of biology

Thanks for simplifying the whole Thylacine Hoax drama. It still shocks me to learn that Forrest never even rediscovered those species. I’ve been tricked, backstabbed, and quite possibly bamboozled. I can’t believe I used to look up to this guy, I guess it’s true what they say, never meet your heroes.

In regards to the Steller’s sea cows, they were also believed to be trapped on the Commander Islands as orcas were said to be patrolling the waters. Plus their population was already on a downwards spiral when we found them at all. So yeah between orca predation and the low population and restricted range, they’d probably have gone extinct even if humans hadn’t hunted them out. Pretty great video btw. Nice to see you also debunking Gallante too.

Hell yes! Biology/Paleontology drama videos! David Peters video when?!?!

I found a stellar's sea cow in his mother's house

Forrest Galante is the modern day Timothy Treadwell in that he knows very little about what he's actually talking about but uses his "celebrity" status as a way to prop himself up and delude the audience into thinking he actually does. In other words, he's going to do more harm than good in the long run. I'm glad you and Beaver are calling him out and I hope others do the same.

This is the same guy that’s asked for 5 million dollar donations to do a simple expedition to find the thylacine in a place that it hasn’t existed in thousands of years (Papua New Guinea).

Had a feeling he was an industry plant. Dude came out of thin air and got like 3 shows off rip. Sucks for actual scientists that have been in the field for decades who get no recognition

I absolutely agree with your closing comments. Galante has damaged the good name of conservation, and researchers everywhere.

Galante lost me when he said on JRE that leopards are bigger than mountain lions. A biologist who grew up in Zimbabwe and is familiar with the US who doesn't know the relative sizes of two of the commonest big cats?

Joe Rogan try not to spread misinformation challenge (impossible)

glad someones coming out to put all this info together in a video

I still cant forget the time he said that a leopard was bigger than a jaguar on joe rogan. That's a mistake that an average animal lover wouldn't make let alone a "biologist" like him. Heaviest wild leopard on record: 212 lbs ( 96 kg ) Heaviest wild jaguar on record: 326 lbs ( 148 kg )

I found this video because I saw the forrest galante one about the thylacine and thought "there has to be someone calling him out for this"

Must admit I was a little sceptical when I clicked the vid as I didn't know this channel or Mr Galante's channel but as soon as I saw he blocked Trey the explainer I was immediately into this vid. How can you block Trey the explainer. 😮

Really good video, man! It's great to see a video this thorough out there which people can be easily directed to if they want a good overview of what's been occurring.

He could've lied about something more impressive, like a pink shark that cures cancer if you dance the Macarena at it.

Well done Scanova, words can't describe how much good this video has done, hopefully in the long run this will have a big impact going forward

It's really infuriating and sad how things have changed. I remember when I was kid, you could still watch an animal tv program and get reliable information from people with genuine passion for the animals and weren't frauds. Then of course, the 2010's came with the fake documentaries and things have been messed up since then. Thank you for this video.

Wasn’t expecting you to make a video on this. I’m super glad you did however.

If a biologist/scientist goes on the Joe Rogan show I instantly question their credibility to begin with.

If the jaw was legitimate, anybody with it could ride that wave forever. To not even mention it again tells you all ya need to know about what he's doing.

I like this new content style. Keep it up, man!

I thought his appearance on Joe Rogan was a comedy skit. He was spouting such obvious nonsense

This was an excellent video and I am glad to be of the very minor assistance in helping with this. Dude needs to be called out a little more frequently on his bull, and everything was laid out in such a way that any of Forrest’s fans trying to look for “proof” will have no leg to stand on since much of the evidence is laid out in the video itself Edit: and yet his fans continue debase themselves in service to someone who likely has no clue they exist in this very comment thread

And nothing of value was lost. In all seriousness, as someone who has known Forrest Galante’s work, especially having heard the tortoise he rediscovered a while ago, I feel honestly disappointed in Forrest for not giving credit to the people who actually did their hardest work while Forrest simply stole credit just by crediting it to himself. And this video alone proves that I no longer want to support Forrest’s work after watching this.

I Hope arch didn’t intentionally create a hoax with their model their art is genuinely amazing Especially their horror series I’m also suprised that more people didn’t know about forest galante and how he’s not all that he’s cracked up to be

This gonna be a wild ride, and im here for it.

Parachute science is also a problem in paleontology. Many countries, such as Brazil, Mongolia and Morocco, have fossils that are discovered by teams that don't include paleontologists from those countries, due to the fossils either being smuggled to Europe and the US for paleontologists from those countries to study, or due to foreign teams choosing not to engage with local paleontologists in the countries they go for their research. I hope you talk more about parachute science, especially as it relates to paleontology.

The use of carnivores music in the back is getting this video a like

Obviously, the Tasmanian tiger in that picture was fake but it looks very realistic

The thing is he COULD be sooooo good as a content creator. he has such a large platform and good core concepts just REALLY bad execution.

Much needed video.

Finally a video on this entire thing

The youtube started to show me forrest galante videos in my home page after i watched this video. KZfaq algrothm at its finest

As a budding ecologist, it’s really sad to me that the only “conservationists” That seem to get any traction in the public eye are people who are either blatantly dishonest or hype, beast, fear mongers. The frustration that I feel when these people take away from the achievements of actual dedicated scientists is immeasurable. I’ve always enjoyed TV, personality biologists (and adjacent peoples) like Jeremy Wade and Steve Irwin but I feel like nowadays, the purpose of these people has shifted away from disproving popular opinion in favor of real science to just saying whatever gets the most views.

So glad this video got made.

Really glad you made this.

honestly the caiman thing had me going "wait a minute..." when it came out because i swear i had heard through the grapevine of the more academic reptile community that someone else had done that. and same with the tortoise like hey man you just showed up to help, you didn't do all the work needed to find her, you just tagged along with a film crew. he's "rediscovering" extinct animals like i "discovered" indie bands in high school: someone else put me on to them first

Man, you answered some of the questions I was having about Galante for some time now, and it now makes sense. Honestly, it pisses me off the thylacine thing because obviously its a big deal and he goes to the steller sea cow! What the hell?!

I’m glad more notable people in this community are uncovering his grift. We need the public to realise that we have to support animals on the brink of extinction instead of chasing ghosts.

Mind-blowing stuff, thanks for explaining all of this!

Absolutely fantastic video! I once looked into this guy with a lot of curiosity, but saw the red flags cropping up one after another. So I am quite happy to see you summing it all up with fantastic clarity and evidence. You carried is very well in presentation and this is a project to be proud of. I am going to share this around with a smile on my face because, if anything is true of the age of the internet, its that callouts have gotten much easier to spread.

Appreciate this video immensely, this has been a stance I have been sharing for months at this point. Great presentation, hoping this reaches a wider audience and maybe Forrest himself, or people around him. With the whole trey situation though, it should be noted that Trey was very much in the wrong there and was also blocking people who called him out, myself included.

Okay any real biologist would have known that is impossible for the sea cow to still exist. that is as dumb as saying megalodon is still alive for obvious reasons. any biologist would understand its impossible for it to have lived and hidden away outside its range. Honestly thats a thing that upsets me with situations like this. Instead of finding informative videos or intelligence discussion on creatures like megalodon, thylacine or the seacow. Instead its a bunch of content farms claiming the animals still exist with obviously fake sightings and by proxy this ruins the reputation of the animal and turns it into a legend rather than an interesting creature to talk about. I have people who actually told me "thylacine doesn't exist" because these myth makers wanted to make a couple bucks making things up. Just so frustrating.

Seeing all this from twitter has been a mess thanks for putting all this together

Let me say this. THANK YOU! I don't know why but as you said there's a sever lack of videos exposing him, the other day I was just thinking it would be cool to see someone making a video about it, so your video was exactly what I was looking for. I hope this won't be the last and that other people will do a video about it, the more people are aware of his dishonest behaviors the better

Am here from the premieres but already I can see you making great point in this guy, he felt too God to be true when I say him on the Joe Rogan show but anyways am glad you're covering this guy at last. Hope you have a great day

Uno, nice that you have use Zoo Tycoon 2 and Carnivores Ice Age musics here. That welcomed old good boys nostalgic games memories here ! Secondo, I find this video very well made and worked, doing good presentation and resume of the entire topic and about the main person mentionned in it that Forrest Galante is. And which was relevant and needed to spread the reality/truth, about most if just anything related and going currently around this guy. Really you did well. Things must be taken against him, in order to protect and actually support conservation efforts and biologists works. And as usual, it was done with your own proper style of your, like for the others videos you do. Making it very pleasant to watch again and again. I really hope this video will never be strike or something like that.

To be fair, there are multitudes of people online who still think that the Cape lion and Zanzibar leopard are valid subspecies...

Needed this thank u 🙏

Great video, also his zoology ''podcast'' where they drink beers and talk about footbal for 2 hours before eventually talking about animals for 5 mins is just another joke

Beaver suggested arch was behind it to make Galante look bad, and honestly, you could probably argue that that's kind of... Moral? (For lack of a better word). Sure, they did it, but Galante didn't provide a critical eye and deleted critical comments. All they did was provide Galante with an opportunity to show his true colours. (This is working under the assumption that arch is behind it at all)

It is valuable and we enjoyed it thanks man! Keep it up!

good job, I hope you and him get a chance to talk about this face to face in JRE

The legendary Scavona is back! (If Forrest tries to strike, he'll be annihilated because another youtuber, @TheGamingBeaver just did a deep dive in his debunking the thylacine vid that Forrest posted. The coprolite might hit the fan...)

Thanks for this video, it helped condense the situation with Galante down into a more easier to digest way for my friends to understand why I don’t trust the thylacine stuff

One thing people need to understand is that simply getting a degree does not automatically make you a credible expert and science communicator. I know there's going to be small-minded normies who go "He has biology degree! He smart science man!" and Galante will happily prey on them, but things aren't that simple. Firstly, he only has a bachelor's degree in biology, which (let's be honest) in this day and age doesn't mean that much more than a high school diploma but even ignoring that, the simple matter is that having a degree and even having experience in the field (which Galante does also have) don't mean much in the end if a person can't commit to thinking and conducting themselves as a serious scientist. A degree is ultimately just a prestige if you can't commit to being a professional. For example, you might have heard about Jeff Meldrum, a professor of anatomy and anthropology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Idaho State University, someone who by all accounts should be a credible scientist, and yet he is one of the most prolific supporters of freaking bigfoot. Despite his Ph.D., if you ever heard Meldrum talking about why he thinks bigfoot is real, and the flimsy arguments and dubious (or outright debunked) evidence he presents to support his stance, you'll realize that he really is no different from any kooky, amateur cryptid hunter, same biases and credulousness. There are even worse examples of certified scientists just flushing their degrees down the toilet. There is one guy, Andrew Snelling, who has a Ph.D. in geology, and yet despite his education, he's a CREATIONIST and happily ignores the evidence for Earth's real age that his own work has shown, in favor of being a mouthpiece for Answers in Genesis. What I'm saying is that having a degree in any field of science doesn't magically honor bound someone to be an honest, and serious-minded academic who follows the scientific method. Even years of experience only take you so far. Ultimately, what makes or breaks an expert isn't their degree or even their experience, it's their commitment or lack thereof to their profession. People with Ph.Ds will gladly throw their education away for a multitude of reasons (religion, politics, profit, personal biases and obsessions, etc.), let alone an attention-craving dude-bro with a bachelor's degree, who also shows very little desire to learn from his mistakes and improve (which even veteran scientists should never stop doing). In principle, Forrest Galante might be a biologist but in practice, he's a sensationalist and a credulous and dishonest buffoon who is barely any more knowledgable or credible than some random true-believer cryptid fanatic you would see on MonsterQuest. Science is, first and foremost, about self-correction, something Galante doesn't give a hoot about. People need to stop arguing about whether or not he's "a real biologist" and focus on how he doesn't act like one. It's the latter that truly makes him a certified fraud.

Always love your uploads man, and thank you for making this video. While I love biology and paleontology, I’m definitely quite lacking on both fields so seeing these genuinely informative videos which also expose shit like that is always refreshing.

I don't really see this as some kind of seething takedown of his character. Sure he is a sensationalist that mostly talks big, but I don't think that makes him a bad person. I feel like his optimism about extinct animals is something rare in the biological community online, I think sensational but not very accurate stuff like this really helps kids get into animals. As a kid, I was obsessed with cryptids, and even if they weren't really scientific, they contributed to my love for biology I have today.

I don't understand why archesuchus would edit together pre-existing images thay had, instead of making completely new untraceable images. They definitely seem to know something they're not letting on about but I didn't think thay made the images.

Thank You for Spreading Awareness 🙏

I’m glad you made this video, he really needs to take accountability for all the misinformation he spreads and for not being responsible

Didn't Forest Galante publish a book though ? I remember reading it a bit at my local Barnes and Noble back in 2023.

Oh dang, shots fired!

Also, Galante released a video stating that the thylacine pictures were indeed a hoax just yesterday.

great content very informative and well done. Now you have me questioning about his javan tiger discovery

Wait since when was he a biologist I thought he was some random dude who looks like he does random podcasts😅😮

4:12 thank god i wasn't the only one pissed off by his ai-thumbnail xD great video! only knew galante because of the thylacine drama before this, glad i now know that i don't want to have anything to do with him.

Him calling the reticulated python the largest/thickest out of it and the "longer" green anaconda was .... disturbing ☠️☠️☠️☠️

So any episode a watch will be very wary now when watch it .

Forrest is merely a parachute biologist, he takes credit from other peoples work and doesn't really find much on his own. He isn't really someone to be trusted in the biology community, and the same kinda goes for cryptozoology.

This was a real hidden gem; I’m very happy to have stumbled on this video! Such a shame the presenters who prioritise drama and views over education are the ones that get rewarded by the algorithm, but at the same time, it’s hardly surprising. As a side note, this comment section suggests there are some striking parallels between Forrest’s and Coyote Peterson’s fanbases.

One thing. His knowledge of nature is severely lacking from the comments he makes.. Also he seems a bit clue less to different species when asked..

The carnivores ice age music goes hard