Joe Rogan Experience #2441 - Paul Rosolie
These notes were generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Joe Rogan welcomes Paul Rosolie, who brings books and notes. Rosolie gives Rogan a book with a note. References Jungle Keeper brand and recent Amazon trip. Introduces dog Marshall, who has appeared on other podcasts. Marshall is groomed, soft coat, big sweetie.
Rosolie released video of uncontacted tribe (Mashco-Piro). Hitting send was scary. They emerge on beach holding 6-foot bows and 7-foot arrows. Anthropologists instruct them to put down weapons to avoid violence. Group of 20-30 people, locals with shotguns for protection. No initiation of contact; tribe approached them.
Local who speaks a little of their language (derivation of Yine, related to Mashco-Piro) communicates across river (shirts vs. skins). He paddles canoe 10 feet from them, gives plantains (not wild bananas; bananas require planting). Tribe fights over plantains desperately. No physical contact.
Nomole means brothers.
They call themselves "the brothers," request more food, bananas, rope (carry rope around waist). Question who we are, demand stop cutting biggest trees (loggers killing indigenous protesters).
Food sourcing difficult daily; no refrigeration or preservation. Shoot monkey or turtle, eat immediately. Tribe shows questioning look, desperation.
Protecting river headwaters for national park corridor. Past successes adding acres, but now pushback from logging mafias, narco-traffickers, gold miners. Locals claim forest as theirs.
Amazon stats:
- 2.7 million square miles (comparable to lower 48 US states at ~3 million sq mi).
- Produces 1/5 of Earth's oxygen.
- Contains 1/5 of freshwater.
- 20% destroyed, breaking moisture cycle (20 trillion liters water/day pumped into air for rain).
- Forest ~55 million years old (Eocene).
Deforestation causes:
- 60% cattle ranching.
- Development roads.
- China new shipping port in Peru, potential railroad over Andes for Amazon access.
Brazil building four-lane highway through tens of thousands of acres protected Amazon rainforest for COP30 in Belém (November), easing traffic for 50,000+ attendees including world leaders. State calls it "sustainable project"; locals/conservationists outraged.
Chopping down trees to protest chopping down trees.
Historical crises (world wars, famines, Dust Bowl) vs. potential ecological collapse. If too much Amazon cut, moisture cycle breaks permanently.
Offer loggers/miners $60/day (vs. $20), shirts, health benefits, boats, teams; many switch happily.
Global positives: E.O. Wilson's half-Earth policy (half planet as ecosystems). Tiger numbers up in India. Global forest cover increasing, but Amazon critical.
Local leader JJ (indigenous, barefoot until 13): Saw forest/fish destruction, protects next river. Named TIME 100 Climate Leaders 2024.
Rosolie started at 18 with JJ; urgency from smoke/chainsaws. Storytelling (anaconda, first book), support from Jane Goodall, Rogan amplified efforts.
Amazon history via LiDAR: Massively populated pre-Columbian; many plants agricultural that went feral post-smallpox depopulation.
Rogan pushes back: Amazon described as lush rainforest pre-cities (e.g., Lost City of Z, Percy Fawcett). Rosolie clarifies: 10-15% shows indigenous influence (terra preta soil enrichment, agroforestry, species selection like Brazil nuts, not uniform farms). Along floodplains/watersheds near ancient sites.
Terra firma areas between rivers show no human engineering. 95% Amazon unsurveyed, wild since ~55-30 million years. LiDAR shows settlements at river confluences.
Critique: Clickbait misleads (e.g., clip with Tom Segura); Brazilian leaders misuse for development. Smithsonian notes theories but discounts vast wild areas.
Early explorers: Tribes sectioned rivers, farmed giant river turtles (3-4 feet across, carapace; fossils of 8-foot).
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Former vast inland sea; Congo-Amazon proto-system split. South America hit Nazca plate, Andes rose, saltwater drained. Explains freshwater stingrays, manatees, pink river dolphins (adapted from saltwater, lost pigmentation, poor eyesight, use sonar).
Amazon River sediment-rich (zero visibility); fish like giant catfish have light-sensing organs, not eyes. Clear rivers exist but not main Amazon.
Man-made theory wrong for vast scale; more settlements than thought (few million pre-Pizarro), but inter-river terra firma untouched.
These guys don't have flippers, they still have claws. Monster turtles. They were farming them in areas by the edge of the river, seeing agriculture, pottery, terra preta, small civilizations. In the other 98% of the Amazon, no one's ever been there.
Have you had sea turtle before? Have you eaten this kind of turtle?
Sea turtle no, this turtle yes. It's slimy, very strange. They cook it and serve it when visiting someone's house by the river. As a conservationist, you eat with them.
How could you be a conservationist and eat the animal? Let me throw paint on it. Let me glue myself to the shell.
Showed video sharing monkey head with a six-year-old girl babysat. She opens pot, pulls out monkey head for lunch. Put on fire, warmed it up. Ripped off pieces for her, she wanted the ear. Ate monkey face together.
Turtle cooked in shell: slit throat, throw on fire, cooks in shell, part shell, meat falls off bone like slow-cooked, throw salt on it.
Salt Trade and Conservation Efforts
They trade for salt. Remote communities two days upriver trade with outside world, have some interaction with money. Organization asks: "What do you want your future to look like?" They have shotguns, chainsaws, boats making them want money, but also want to eat fish and monkeys daily from river and forest. Cutting trees means fewer monkeys. No deer tags or monitoring. Bow and arrow was fair, shotgun kills every monkey pointed at.
Working with locals as rangers, developing relationships: "Do you want to continue living this way? Do you want your kids to live this way?" Answer yes, but with better health and education. They like that way of life, only thing they've known.
Helping Indigenous Communities with Government Recognition
Brought one community to city after 15 years trouble getting recognized by Peruvian government. Used lawyers, office in Peru. Holdup: two days to nearest town, scared of traffic, no idea about paperwork, sitting in air-conditioned office with forms like I227B, social security number. Handled administrative part, got indigenous titled land, no one can take it away. Brought them to city conference, big celebration with feathers on heads.
Amazon as War Zone: Miners and Ranchers
Amazon is war zone of influence. Miners kill protesters. Lawyer's father protested gold mining, killed. Photo of sandstorm: wasteland, destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres in Peruvian Amazon, visible from space. Cut trees, burn forest, suck up sediment, use mercury to bind gold, burn mercury off releasing into air, becomes mercury rain into fish and people. Miners have mercury poisoning, birth defects, health problems, respiratory issues.
Forest Fires and Animal Suffering
Run toward forest burning in September when driest (July-September). Cut forest, leave down to burn. Photo: two baby jaguars burned alive stuck on tree. Massive individual suffering, millions of animals on a single tree: monkeys, birds, snakes burrow deeper then burn. This for cattle ranching, invaders set up cows, papaya. Supposed to be lush verdant ancient rainforest with wildlife, throbbing pulsing symphony at night. That spot: days to reach, all day river, camp, up rapids, waterfalls. Studied, never human settlement.
LiDAR Discoveries and Pristine Amazon
LiDAR in lush tropical areas finds structures underneath, pathways, geometric patterns indicating building foundations. But grossly overstated human impact: take Amazon as football field, thought only few inches affected, actually 10 ft still wild. Message: lot more wilderness than thought.
Giant Ground Sloth Legend
Documentary on biologist convinced giant sloth still exists in Amazon. Locals say they see them, have name. Guy years there, staked reputation, losing mind, couldn't find it. Doesn't mean not there, so much unexplored. Locals never wrong. Like searching coyotes: thousand in North Dakota, start in Pennsylvania, won't find. Wildlife in populations, go where they live, talk to locals who know.
Example: teenager in New York mountains looking for rattlesnakes, found every snake but them until learned dens, specific mountainside basking spots.
Even if tribe knows about giant ground sloths, won't tell outsiders. Might be one valley between mountains.
Pharmaceuticals from Amazon
Enormous percentage of pharmaceutical drugs from Amazon plants. Quinine first malaria cure from Amazon. Captopril blood pressure med from Bushmaster venom in 1990s. Estimates: 25% modern drugs from rainforest plants, many from Amazon (though figures often all tropical rainforests).
Natural remedies: tree 100x more potent than Neosporin against bacteria.
Sangre de Drago (Dragon's Blood): hit tree with machete, spoon sap on wound.
Can it grow in Austin? Probably.
Commercial probably diluted. Great warrior killed by nick (Khal Drogo plot reference).
Infections and Jungle Health
Staph infection from mosquito bite spread to MRSA, double antibiotics. Would die in Amazon without modern meds.
Got MRSA from city clinic during dengue, now compromised from 20 years jungle. Wild jungle: no malaria, rabies, dengue due low human population. Mosquito bites human in city, spreads; in jungle bites anteater. Logging/mining camps: diseases like fleas burrowing feet laying eggs, leishmaniasis, malaria, dengue, Zika.
Ecosystem regulates: frogs eat mosquito larvae in bromeliad cups/puddles with tadpoles, turtles eat tadpoles. Cut forest: sun-heated puddles full larvae, tons mosquitoes. Forests produce rainfall for crops, balance ecosystem against mosquitoes/parasites.
LA house pool stagnant: green with swimming mosquito larvae like school of fish/hatchlings. Dragonflies lay young to eat them, savage larvae.
Stingray Sting Story
Walking stream, took shoes off at known waterfall. Bullet ants, caiman bites, snake bites had, but stingray 100,000x worse than bullet ants. Seen guy with nerve damage, systemic infection, couldn't walk months.
Barb went into foot, wagged tail flaying skin off arch, out with venom. Felt in flash. Documented, blacking out, level 10 pain. Friend warned venom hits system, can't walk, miles from river, can't carry.
Back to station, couldn't put foot down, making deals with God. Plant medicine: two trees, bark and fiber into leaf pack, cook to pus/fishcake, boiling hot on wound, sucked venom. Shaved material, different colors, heated scalding, pressed. Black stuff denatured blood/venom pulled out.
Four hours white-hot pain, couldn't talk. Nighttime subsided, no nerve damage/infection thanks to indigenous medicine passed generations. Hospital guy no idea.
Just stepped wrong spot. Stepped on stingrays before, felt flutter, once barb past my
Paul stepped on a stingray in a waterfall after deciding to avoid danger for his last week in the Amazon after 6 months. Felt the barb go past his foot through the arch but it didn't penetrate. About a month prior, fallen off 50-60 foot cliff, rolled down, bruised ribs. Had previous infections, crocodile bites, dengue. Stingray took him out despite precautions. Posted video months later in April; recovered in two days without hospital. Friend who went to hospital had necrosis, huge infection, couldn't walk for two months, treated for months in home country.
I've ripped open every part of my body... this was pain from the inside, pulsating.
How much of my year did I just miss?
Local indigenous knew remedy; passed down from father, mother, grandparents. Authors like Wade Davis on indigenous wisdom gleaned from nature.
Ayahuasca Discovery
Who's first to figure out ayahuasca: boil vine with another plant? Incomprehensible trial-and-error with 40,000 plant species; cost to human life too high. Indigenous say jungle taught them; link between our world and spirit world, gods gave it.
How much of our senses have atrophied by modern civilization?
Jungle communicates non-verbally: instincts, intuition. Jungle as giant complex sentient being. Indigenous tracker JJ: listen to birds—they tell how fast to walk. Sunny day, birds chirping, then silence signals jaguar, weather, etc. Birds as messengers; attune to forest frequency. Newcomers walk loud, talk, step on branches, insensitive to snapping sticks.
Monkeys have language: African vervet monkeys different calls for eagle, land predator (lion). Play tricks: false eagle call to steal fruit. Crows super intelligent.
Rescuing Spider Monkey
7 AM on river, JJ spots spider monkey drowning in high river with whirlpools/currents. Paul jumps in, offers paddle, monkey scared. Paul speaks spider monkey language learned from rescued orphans. Monkey recognizes language, relaxes, lets him support tail (fifth limb with 12-inch finger pad). Guides her to shore holding tail and stick; she looks back gratefully, not terrified. Video evidence; otherwise unbelievable. Saved her life as head went under multiple times.
She was like, "Wait, you speak my language."
Paul has eaten spider monkey but saves them; no conflict—when in Rome. Would save deer too.
Eating Primates and Wildlife
Eating primate feels normal after time; turtle depends on type (ribeye vs t-bone). Locals hand-to-mouth: minimal salt, no marinating; like unseasoned chicken on fire. Ate spider monkey arm for protein after week without; tastes awful if poorly cooked, like smooth mutton if slow-cooked. Steve Rinella with Yanomami: preferred food, tastes like smoked turkey; cooked singed, in banana leaves, boiled soup.
David Cho with Hadza in Africa: baboons; shot baboons grab arrow like humans.
No wildlife conservation sense: overhunt to extinction, move on (e.g., baboons last). Encroaching settlements. Other regions overhunted; outsiders come as loggers. Teaching tribes: no hunting during baby season, monitor monkey intake for sustainability, especially with firearms.
Elder: Used to pull fish from river, monkeys in trees, turtles everywhere; now eat sparrows. Region depleted.
3-week expedition: planes, days by boat to remote settlement. Recently contacted uncontacted tribe tricked by missionaries (promised ride, demanded money for gas). Tiny people (not like taller Mashco-Piro), bows, no protein source. Gesturing for food; JJ gives coins for bread, causes mob of 50 surrounding him as "token guy." Hunter-gatherers trapped with no game, loggers, gold miners, oil barge—Amazon being eaten out of sight.
Poverty and Desperation
Hunter-gatherers with no food; breastfeeding babies, eating rats. Logger story: saw rafts, feared organ harvesters, preemptively killed them—turned out European hikers on mega expedition murdered.
Pure desperation.
Dark outpost: extractors (gold miners, petroleum, loggers), brothel, displaced natives. Scary missionary (white guy like Rasputin in robes, crazy eyes, clearing settlement, pulling kids from forest). Slept back-to-back awake one night fearing robbery/murder (jacket, watch, gear tempting). Pushed further to uncharted jungle.
Contrast: Paul's region tribes welcoming, safe; jungle keeper shirts, boats. Recent gold miners; sent ranger team.
They sent ranger team and police to arrest gold miners, brought them to town, offered jobs, and stopped them after they cleared only half an acre. Miners are artisanal; no one hires them. They decide independently, recruit cousins, launch expeditions with 16 horsepower motors, sneak upriver for 3 days, pan for gold flakes, burn forest, use motors to suck up material, bring wives and kids.
Gold is taken by boat to town; one store buys it, robbers wait outside to steal at gunpoint and sell to actual buyers.
Similar to artisanal gold miners, small-scale coca growers say "we're just going to grow a little bit and sell it." Helped police bust a clearing deep upriver; rangers refused to handle it alone, police dispatched.
Spotted deforestation patch via drone; people with guns ran out (unlike loggers who hide), chased boat with 40hp motor (they had 60hp), refused to stop fearing death. No guns on their boat. Arrived at police camp; warned of incoming bad guys who were masked and armed.
Narco Retaliation
Narcos assassinated a police officer days later. Clearing had petacas (sacks) of white powder; Peruvian military raided, arrested everyone; so large American DEA notified.
River is last wilderness, attracting threats. Relying on Peruvian authorities to stop before too late. Narcos send loggers ahead to clear land for coca. Now traveling with security.
Police intercepted message: "If you see JJ or that gringo that flies the drone, kill them, we'll reward you." JJ missed ambush on driver Percy by luck (returned to station); masked gunmen blocked road with trees, pulled driver out, expected JJ and Paul, roughed him up, took license and phone, said "we missed him today, but we'll get him soon."
Increased police protection; battleground between saving rainforest and narco wilderness operations.
Yellow: Trans-Amazon Highway (Chinese/Brazilian). Smaller roads by loggers/narcos. Big red arrow: planned road. White line: area to protect. Light greenish blue: 130,000 acres already protected. Race to fill area for Jungle Keepers/indigenous protection.
Drugs grown at upper tip of arrow via small trail roads under 160ft forest canopy.
Putting up signs on jungle roads beyond police reach (Wild West denser than Wild West, can't see 10ft ahead, Indians with arrows, evil narcos taking indigenous girls for brothels).
Narcos lure girls: "great waitress, educate her" – never seen again. Meanwhile, bettering community lives, rangers as friends.
Like John Muir showing Teddy Roosevelt Yosemite/Sequoia, protect wildest river on Earth. Protects 200 indigenous from narcos, ensures fish/resources; they work as park guards, educators, chefs, boat drivers. Peru's Amazon crown jewel.
Small-Scale Narcos
Artisanal "mom and pop" coca growers sell to big guys; cops arrest easily (not Mexican cartel). Police not corrupt, helping protect park.
Peru rivaling/surpassing Colombia in cocaine production.
Despite narcos, will succeed like stopping Amazon loss; positive mentality needed. Locals standing up.
Tree Crush Incident at Ranger Station
3am, manager reports tree fell on station in pouring rain (loudest rain); navigated upriver by crocodile eyeshine. Tree crushed roof onto ranger Sandra's face in bed; she couldn't scream. Pulled her out via chainsaws; only ankle scratch. Video of her in hammock at 6am smoking: > "I'm alive." Still rangers for kids' forest.
Loves forest protection, danger, chaos, wildness. Kid dreamed of Roosevelt/Jane Goodall lives vs. school detention/desk job.
Riding boat 4am lightning, showering in river by croc eyes, wind, mist off canopy feels healthy/connected (sweat joins rain cycle). Unpredictable days.
Anaconda Interaction
Team found 11ft anaconda on log; lay head on it for video to show not dangerous (asleep sunning, would jump in water if wakes). Tongue flicked, no freakout.
Anaconda small ones eaten by crocodiles, herons, piranhas.
Herons, pelicans eat baby alligators whole (pelicans swallow live bullfrogs/pigeons/seagulls/dogs/cats/bears? – capybaras).
Nutria in Louisiana (large rodents hunted with .22s, eaten; Dave Attell's Insomniac). Similar to paca (cat-sized spotted like squirrels, delicious).
Favorite: piranha (fry whole with slits, fins like salty chips, just salt). Better: pacu (big vegetarian piranha species, nutritious/muscle-building like elk; world record 50lbs in Georgia/Florida).
Catch pacu: 10ft pole with rope, rancid chicken bait (eat nuts, human-like teeth), silent float at 6am.
Wait for a feature in the river like a rock or place where water rushes, smack bait against it mimicking falling fruit or seeds with a 4-inch hook. After an hour thinking no pacu, they hit hard and pull you out of the boat—friends pull you back while fish thrashes boom boom boom. They're huge, 2-foot fish. Crack them between the eyes with a hammer to subdue or they jump out or destroy everything.
Pacu Boat Jump Incident
Going upriver at night with tourists, quiet in boat. Something flies past, gets everyone wet, banging in boat. Turn on headlamp: pacu in boat, girl's head bleeding. Huge pacu jumped out of river at night, hit her in head, fell in boat. Ate it.
Two foot fish flying through the air.
Pacu is favorite food, especially fried with garlic and cup mushrooms.
Amazonian Cuisine with Roy
Roy, president of Jungle Keepers, local chef focusing on Amazonian cuisine. Picks right flowers, funguses; flavors pacu with orchid. Peru has great food, he does jungle version—curated 5-star jungle cuisine, not nasty monkey soup or turtle. Pacu #1, even over crocodile/alligator (tried but no impression, feels like friends).
Work with caiman a lot, see them on every beach. In Iquitos north, eat more caiman. On their river: capybaras, kinkajous, herons, macaws everywhere—pulsing life like Avatar.
Couldn't find video of David shooting nutria (long time ago, back when Dave was drinking, sober 15+ years—drank at comedy club, stayed up all night smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee). Most unhealthy and hilarious guy alive.
Rogan stopped drinking mostly: 8 months sober, now glass of wine with dinner, 1-2 cocktails max/night. Felt good during break, convinced never again, but missed wine with steak. Realized not alcoholic, just social/club/dinner drinking despite workouts. Moderation ok, but drinking is fun poison. Lex Fridman ruined drinking.
Lex Fridman Ayahuasca Experience
Lex wanted ayahuasca in Amazon. Called shaman (JJ's oldest brother, 70s). Paul retired after bad overboiled experience (mega dose, saw God/big bang, traumatic). Lex: "I came all the way here for you, do this for me, don't leave me alone in dark." Drank together.
Shaman smokes pipe, feathers, sings. Go deeper. Shaman did deep work on Lex. Paul: laying down, shaman gives more cups, kisses forehead. Protects Lex, Paul's spirit fine. Both reach pinnacle: Paul's consciousness lifts 6 feet above, watches vomiting calmly. Shaman: "You're here to support him, vomit now." Shaman shakes leaves, sings louder to purge fully, then calms to night's symphony.
Lex got happier, went to cup 6+. Paul tapped out. Shaman sings to grandfather, spirit of Santiago, anaconda (Yacumama?), Shiwako—old words, frogs throbbing, energies through skin. Lex has amazing constitution (Russian).
Post-ayahuasca: Paul can't drink (whiskey smells make him sick, body red light, no beer 2 years, hypersensitive). Didn't affect Lex.
Lex parties hard: Andrew Schultz wedding, Vegas with Whitney Cummings (flew with Paul/wife), hung with David Goggins. Drunk Lex vs sober Goggins push-up competition.
Lex going to Dagestan train with Khabib's team (Islam Makhachev, Umar Nurmagomedov)—early 40s training savages.
Khabib's Career
Khabib retired after dad's COVID death (legendary trainer for Khabib/Islam). Promised mom no more fighting. Fought Justin Gaethje, defended title, done. One of GOATs.
GOAT debate subjective: Jon Jones (HW title at 23, now 36-37, ~6'4" 240lbs, fought 205, undefeated run, relinquished HW recently). Demetrious Johnson (Mighty Mouse, flyweight) top skill-wise despite size.
Striking guys often smaller arms (power from conditioning/muscle endurance, not bulk). Big bulky bodybuilders bad for function. Paul lifts max 70lbs, bodyweight (chin-ups, dips, vest), kettlebells (90lb occasional). Trains function/strength, not size—range of motion essential for martial artist. Smaller/functional > big goofy toad.
Paul bulks easily (Italian/Irish).
Podcast Guests and Experiences
4 podcasts/week. Guests like Johnny Knoxville, Matt Damon. Better human understanding from diverse interactions. Bee lady relocates bees. Knoxville: bull hit real (unconscious 16x, last bull landed on head, depressed/medicine months). Paul averse to head injuries despite MMA commentary/sparring history (stopped late 20s kickboxing, brief for Wesley Snipes).
David Blaine and Knoxville
David Blaine needle through arm real—Paul did it, hit nerve once, restarted. Pure pain, no trick.
Knoxville: got response from getting hurt.
Wesley Snipes Fight That Never Happened
Mid-30s, trained 6 months 2x/day (brutal/tiring) with Rob Kaman (Dutch kickboxing champ) mornings, jiu-jitsu nights. Learned leg kicks (taekwondo specialist, state/national champ). John Danaher (George St-Pierre coach, greatest martial arts coach?) conversation led to it. Campbell McLaren (early UFC producer) contacted. Snipes tax evasion jail (sovereign citizen bad advice: no taxes/constitution). Possibly cocaine. Plan: grab/choke (Snipes good striker from Blade, but Paul kickboxer/taekwondo).
Jay Hun Kwan Taekwondo Institute (Boston, world's best—walked in randomly). Physically gifted, perfect technique.
A philosophy major from Colombia who became a professor, then obsessed with jiu-jitsu: teaching all day, training all day, sleeping on the mats. Brilliant man.
At dinner, he mentioned George St-Pierre needed help with spinning back kick. Rogan offered to demonstrate the best one ever seen, despite being a comedian. They went to Legends MMA in LA (Eddie Bravo's 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu) to the Muay Thai area. Rogan kicked the bag; filmed on flip phone around 2005. Still had the skill despite not training kickboxing or taekwondo recently. Did it today.
George, this is when we were at Legends MMA uh in um LA... I kick the bag and he's like, "Man, what the fuck? Can I film this?"
Impressive video; if shown to GSP, indicates high skill level. Rogan used to be really good.
At 19, living in Boston, fought nationals in California vs. Illinois state champion. Knocked him out with wheel kick to head; heel sore for days, hard to walk. Opponent unconscious, snoring, face-first down, stretcher to hospital for half hour.
Used switchkick counter: opponent switched from left leg forward, telegraphed; Rogan spun with right heel as he advanced forward. Force like two cars colliding or Mark McGwire baseball bat swing due to leg power, torque, no padding on heel, hit cheek/side of head.
Acted nonchalant post-KO, walked away. Told corner guy Junkick opponent was out.
Instructor later: "I heard you had a really good knockout." Rogan: "It was scary, thought he was dead." Instructor: "Sometimes they die."
Realized risks at 19: no health insurance, broke, training for Olympics (two years away), amateur for free. Saw brain damage in gym guys by 21: slurring, forgetting, repeating stories.
Switched to kickboxing with Joe Lake (boxing coach); hands limited in taekwondo sparring. Offered $500 pro kickboxing fight but declined: lose amateur status, no Olympics, no pro money like UFC didn't exist yet.
GSP made it out healthy before brain damage; intelligent, keeps mind active (plays chess), proactive. Positive on social media, best case for all-time great MMA champion with successful happy life post-fighting. No shakes.
Hung out recently at Comedy Mothership green room playing chess with James McCann. Sweetheart, not intimidating despite being killer in Octagon. 5'10", 180-185 lbs now, fought at 170. Great representative: no trash talk, respectful, no trouble outside Octagon (no drunk driving, beating people).
Khabib also smart: watches documentaries, reads books, into ancient history, dinosaurs, aliens.
Jane Goodall convinced Bigfoot real (interview where she said certain). Open-minded due to global equivalents: Yeti, Yari (Australia), Chinese wild man. Met eyewitnesses; stories credible. Lived with primates in remote areas.
"I'm romantic. I would like Bigfoot to exist. I've met people who swear they've seen Bigfoot... every single continent there is an equivalent... there's something. I don't know what it is. I've always open-minded."
Gigantopithecus coexisted with humans: bones (enormous primate molars) found 1920s/30s in Chinese apothecary shop; bipedal (mandible bones), 8-10 feet tall, orangutan family, Asia. Bering land bridge during ice age allowed migration (humans from Siberia to North America; confirmed by DNA disproving Mormon lost tribe of Israel theory). Megafauna like short-faced bear crossed; logical for Gigantopithecus to Pacific Northwest dense forests.
Native American tribes: 40-50+ distinct terms across languages/regions for hairy wild giant man (e.g., Wookiee). Few mythological creatures in their culture.
Ancient cultures/Bible/Native stories of giants, giant red-haired men.
Jane Goodall reason for career. At 22, at her talk with chapters of Mother of God manuscript (publishers rejected: unbelievable anaconda jump, raising anteater). Handed to her; 48 hours later, staff: she read, loved, endorsed if published.
"Finish the book, get a publisher, and I will write you an endorsement."
Led to publishing, JungleKeepers, protecting rainforest (100,000 acres, added 30,000 recently). Recent email: urged to keep protecting Amazon.
Legacy: revolutionized primate knowledge (chimps toolmakers; now capuchin monkeys, otters, elephants use tools/sticks/branches/trees). Went to mid-Africa at 20s as blonde girl, lifelong work. Traveled 300 days/year even as icon; read unknown kid's chapters.
Possible surviving small hairy primate-like humans: Orang Pendek (Indonesia/Vietnam?), sightings once dismissed as legend.
Homo floresiensis (hobbit people): discovered 2000s on Flores Island; real bones, small bipedal hairy human-like primate, likely elsewhere. Anthropologists believe possible survivor in small populations (dense forests like Amazon/Tasmanian tiger/thylacine sightings).
Hard to film: wolverines/mountain lions rare sightings despite existence (100 yards away, poor phone zoom). Hundreds of woodsmen rarely see wolverines.
Uncontacted tribes: blurry photos (loggers/runners). Rosolie ran from first sighting 10 days deep in jungle. Now clear footage: stone age? No, pre-stone (sharpened sticks, no clay pots). Time machine to thousands years back (anthropologist: 30-40k? Rosolie feels ~2k).
"This is such a strange aperture into history... you guys are a couple thousand years back."
Paul feels the number of tribes seems like two, but they were like little tribes. 2,000 years ago, Egyptian pyramids were already 2,500 years old. Civilization isn't homogeneous; uncontacted tribes still exist today.
A man with a cell phone feels like from the future filming them. Paul felt like a Back to the Future moment; these people have no idea. People back home don't realize they live like this in the jungle, and denser forest likely has many more.
Encounter with Raiding Women from Another Tribe
While watching one group, heard something behind; women from another tribe came lightly and pulled up yuca and bananas, raiding the village. For a second, thought ambush; turned shotguns from river, expecting arrows. Agnosio grabbed Paul and hid behind trees. They were just stealing fruit and crops.
Protecting Uncontacted Tribes
Feels like going back to see Comanches riding plains after buffalo, but these were right there. Videos going out worldwide; explaining to people to leave them alone. Paul and team ensure they get left alone.
By giving bananas, helping them. Witness to inter-tribal interactions. For indigenous cultures destroyed in recent centuries, can do it right: respect them. If they want to come out or adapt, they can, but need forest to make that decision.
Adaptation slow: more banana exchanges without arrows, then invite to village, teach banana growing, trade machetes while keeping to themselves.
North Sentinel Island
Most uncontacted: North Sentinel Island. Distrustful because contacted in 1800s by pervert Commander Maurice Vidal Portman, explorer/pervert. Journal logs: "This one has testicles the size of a sparrow's egg." Dressed them like Roman soldiers, took pictures, kidnapped some, gave flu, many died.
No written language, no evidence of fire in wet environment. Oral traditions of white people messing everything up. Instances of killing intruders, like recent missionary. 1981, cargo ship Primrose ran aground on coral reef; crew saw 50 men with bows building boats to attack. Rescued; Sentinelese salvaged metal from wreck.
Andaman Islands Experience
Joe visited Andaman Islands next to Sentinel. Feels like falling off earth. Only accessible from Chennai or Kolkata (Indian territory); limited travel. British brought elephants by boat (no bulldozers); archival footage of lifting elephants from pirate ships. Now elephants there, used for moving trees.
Police escort required to cross island to prevent human safaris. Tiny people with bows and arrows still out there. Swam with elephant.
Animal Encounters and Warnings
Elephant videos: lifting on riggings (painted, not blindfolded). Elephants rarely freak out but can kill; video of trainer abusing elephant, stomped into pancake. Tiger mauling video: slashes to skull.
Don't push animals.
Human Expansion and Environmental Concerns
Humans mess with everything; on every continent, from Africa, spread via hiking, warm clothes, floating. Question: figure out not destroying life-support systems? Talking Mars before fixing Earth.
Ocean filled with trash, Amazon burning. Successes: wolves back to Yellowstone, New York waters cleaner, humpbacks returning. Overwhelmed with problems; last chance to fix.
Modern nothingness, end-times feeling; actually most exciting time: fly everywhere, info at fingertips, more people helping, saving animals, restoring ecosystems.
After jungle mission, people scrambled; advice: go outside, get off phone, to the mountains (John Muir quote), touch grass.
Comment on anaconda video: "You've touched enough grass, go back inside, watch Netflix."
Unintended Environmental Consequences
Mojave Desert solar farm incinerates 6,000 birds/year via mirrors (death ray, 1,000 degrees). Billions spent, underperformed, recently shut down. Windmill farms blight.
Nuclear power best for environment; fear from old incidents (Three Mile Island, 1970s Fukushima). New tech clean; rebrand past "nuclear."
Battle Against Ignorance
Constant battle good/evil, ignorance/information. Brave people fight societal narratives. Need opposition for progress; creates good pushing back.
Tidal wave of negativity poisons; choose something to care about, be the good you want.
Paul contacted by helpers for rainforest protection, positive people with ideas/money.
Focus matters: inundated with terrifying info from 8 billion people (unnatural; supposed to know local village).
Adults worse than kids; seek meaning in activism/screaming online. Concrete/electronic culture lacks fulfillment vs. nature (humans coordinated with nature for 500,000 years; cities/agriculture recent).
EMF and Health Impacts
Wi-Fi/EMF signals. San Francisco 49ers: disproportionate catastrophic injuries (Achilles, knees, ligaments/tendons) since 2012; training facility near power station (radiating field).
Like Erin Brockovich: cluster of same issues indicates cause.
Power lines: increased cancer rates, class action lawsuits. Paul's environmental college senior project on fracking areas.
Gasland documentary: water lit on fire. Companies offer $2 million to drill on land; people need money.
Perplexity AI query on power lines and cancer:
- Limited evidence of small increase in childhood leukemia risk very close to high voltage power lines.
- Overall link weak, not clearly causal.
- Residential exposures typically within safety guidelines.
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields from power lines as possibly carcinogenic to humans, mainly due to childhood leukemia data.
I would never buy a house near them.
Mammoth Tooth Art
- Mammoth (10,000 years old) tooth piece from John Reeves in Alaska, turned into art.
- From Colossal (company bringing back the woolly mammoth).
- Joe Rogan has a pool cue with woolly mammoth ivory.
Something 10,000 years ago used that to mash down vegetables.
- Boneyard site in Alaska explored by John Reeves.
- Colossal team visited.
- Randall Carlson has gone or is going there.
- New site found with more bones.
- Area ~4-6 acres, massive deposits of thousands of animals, including species not supposed to be there.
- Thick layer of carbon indicating the place was on fire.
Paul Rosolie anecdote:
- First fossil find: small shell.
- Recently found 7-foot turtle shell, thick black fossilized, in low Amazon river basin, like a crashed alien spaceship.
Dinosaur Eggs in China
Recent discovery: Dinosaur eggs filled with crystals (crystallized baby velociraptor-like, but just calcite crystals).
- 70 million-year-old grapefruit-sized egg from fossil bed in Qishon Basin, upper Cretaceous formation.
- Natural dinosaur geode; provides unique info on shell structure.
- Never-before-seen species of egg, identified in 2022 paper led by paleontologist at Qinghai University in China.
- Among first dinosaur eggs (or evidence of dinosaurs) in that formation.
70 million-year-old dinosaur egg contains surprising sparkling crystal surprise.
Paul Rosolie reflects on adventures:
- 20 years of wild experiences.
- Story of meeting JJ, finding anacondas.
- Started as kid dreaming of Amazon; now protecting an entire river.
Jungle Keeper: What It Takes to Change the World by Paul Rosolie, available now.
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