Paul Rosolie - “Junglekeeper” & Protecting the Amazon Rainforest | The Daily Show

What this episode is about

Paul Rosolie, a jungle conservationist, shares his adventurous journey in the Amazon rainforest, detailing his encounters with wildlife, including an attempt to study anacondas and interactions with uncontacted tribes. His experiences blend humor and astonishment, revealing his deep passion for conservation inspired by figures like Jane Goodall and David Attenborough.

Key takeaways

• In anaconda research, grabbing life by the head beats letting go—especially in a swamp showdown.
• The Amazon's invisible mist river releases 20 trillion liters of water daily—nature's plumbing we often take for granted.
• Cutting down ancient trees ends thousand-year stories; each cut is a lost chapter in Earth's biography.
• Dyslexia won't stop an adventure; sometimes, wild stories flow better than the written word, just ask a spider monkey.
• The Amazon provides a fifth of our oxygen—who knew nature's lungs needed such urgent CPR amid deforestation?

Who speaks in this episode?

• Michael Kosta (Guest) · 6 min speaking
• Paul Rosolie (Guest) · 8 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 3:00: Jane Goodall, Junglekeeper, David Attenborough, Steve Irwin
2. 3:00 – 6:00: Paul Rosolie, Jane Goodall
3. 6:00 – 9:00: Jungle Keepers, Paul Rosolie, Mashco Piro
4. 9:00 – 12:00: Paul Rosolie
5. 12:00 – 14:01: Paul Rosolie, Junglekeeper, Jungle Keepers

Notable quotes from "Paul Rosolie - “Junglekeeper” & Protecting the Amazon Rainforest | The Daily Show"

• And I learned all about-- I was allowed to watch David Attenborough and Steve Irwin.

  about David Attenborough · at 1:30

• And that's-- after living 20 years in the Amazon, I've come to think of myself as the voice for them.

  about Paul Rosolie · at 5:48

• As Junglekeepers has grown, we protect 130,000 acres of the Amazon now, with the Indigenous people.

  about Jungle Keepers · at 7:53

• It's a pleasure to talk with you so much.

  about Junglekeeper · at 13:43

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Paul Rosolie — Person · Main guest · 5 mentions · first at 3:52
  Primary interview subject discussing his Amazon conservation work, anaconda research, and his book-driven adventures and advocacy.
• Jane Goodall — Person · Referenced expert / inspiration · 3 mentions · first at 0:10
  Cited as a formative influence on Rosolie (childhood exposure) and as an authority figure referenced in the discussion of animal suffering from habitat loss.
  And we forget-- and Jane brought this up-- that with the loss of habitat is also massive individual suffering for the animals that live there.
• David Attenborough — Person · Referenced media figure / inspiration · 1 mention · first at 1:31
  Mentioned as part of Rosolie’s childhood influences that shaped his interest in wildlife and adventure.
• Steve Irwin — Person · Referenced media figure / inspiration · 1 mention · first at 1:31
  Mentioned alongside Attenborough as a childhood influence contributing to Rosolie’s fascination with wildlife and risk-filled adventure.
  And I learned all about-- I was allowed to watch David Attenborough and Steve Irwin.

Books & papers

• Junglekeeper — Book · Primary recommendation · 2 mentions · first at 0:01
  Book written by the guest, detailing his adventures and conservation efforts in the Amazon.

Companies & orgs

• Jungle Keepers — Company · Business focus · 3 mentions · first at 7:53
  Organization mentioned as actively involved in Amazon conservation efforts, protecting large areas of the rainforest.

Places & events

• Mashco Piro — Place · Setting · 1 mention · first at 7:22
  Indigenous tribe mentioned in the podcast, representing the untouched and uncontacted peoples of the Amazon.
  MICHAEL KOSTA: An Indigenous tribe who is really not connected, been contacted with other humans.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Wow, what a fun read. Love this, love this, love this. There's stories in here. You walk through the jungle with elephants. You befriend a spider monkey. You drink whiskey with Jane Goodall. You see your father's friend's huge dick. It's the best part. It's a very funny part. You contact an uncontacted tribe. It almost feels like this is fiction. It does read like that. This is real? When I had to read it for the audiobook, I was reading it, going, no one would believe this without photos. Yeah. People must think that sometimes.

0:33 Because, you know, what do you mean, you jumped on an 18-foot snake in the river and it dragged you down to the bottom? Yeah. I wanted to let them show me-- show you on the desk. They said, no. You got to-- you got to-- you got to grab these things by the head. And if you don't get them by the head-- I mean, you're talking about a Great Dane-size head that will come back at you with lots of teeth. And that's how we started doing anaconda research. And so, yeah, I grabbed one that was so big, I couldn't get my arms around it.

0:58 MICHAEL KOSTA: Jeez. And so that's the only measurement I have. And so that one, I had to make the decision of going down into the swamp with it or letting go. And letting go is what you-- you could have done. You're from Brooklyn. - Originally. Originally. And now you're-- Brooklyn! Now you're a jungle conservationist. Did you just take the subway too often here? You wanted someplace more wild. My parents really messed up. They read me so much Jane Goodall. And I learned all about-- I mean, I was allowed to watch David Attenborough and Steve Irwin.

1:33 And so I grew up just watching all this stuff. And I also heard about-- you look at someone like Goodall. And you go, why did they have such an adventurous life, and I'm stuck in detention? And I was like, I want to go to a place where I can drink the river. I want to go to a place with these huge, ancient trees. I wanted wild. I wanted to go on a real adventure. You know, every teenager, you, like, want your life to be put at risk. I love the part of the book where-- --you keep getting in trouble at school. And you run out of school just to be with the trees in the woods Yeah.

2:03 I'm severely dyslexic. I can barely read. And so I couldn't do math. By the way, the book doesn't read like it was written by a severely-- it's beautifully written. It's written in spider monkey. Yeah. You mentioned trees. Let's talk about trees. You write about them beautifully. You share with us how they actually put water into the air for us. Talk a little bit about your passion for trees and what they mean for you. I've always loved huge, old trees. The forests that I grew up in, the trees were small. They've already been cut.

2:36 And so when I got to the Amazon, there's, like, these giant millennium trees, thousand-year old trees. And what people don't realize is that floating above the canopy of the Amazon rainforest is an invisible mist river that has more water than the Amazon itself. So each day, 20 trillion liters of water comes up off the Amazon-- - Each day. Each day. Trillion. 20 trillion liters of water. I'm just not sure this audience understands anything you're [BLEEP] saying. And then it rains back down, making it the Amazon rainforest.

3:05 And so these trees are these biotic pumps sending up all of this moisture. And we depend on that. No matter where you live in the world-- New York, Bangalore, Tokyo-- the climactic stabilization that the Amazon is providing is what makes our world livable, has a fifth of our oxygen and produces a fifth of our fresh water. And so it's an incredibly important thing. A fifth of our oxygen and a fifth of our fresh water. Fifth of our fresh water is contained in the Amazon, and it produces another fifth of our oxygen. I had an evening to myself recently out in the woods.

3:34 And I-- Well, it was my house out in the woods. But I ate some mushrooms. And I found myself standing in front of this tree, touching it, feeling its power. I know this is going to sound crazy, but I'm actually being serious with you now. It blew me away how strong they are yet also how flexible in the wind. And I had this great appreciation for this tree. The next day, when the mushrooms wore off, I was like, I'm not going to feel that way anymore. But I still just [BLEEP] love trees, man. And I feel like-- you write about it so beautifully in here.

4:11 But it was connecting with me. And I feel like we all need to be loving trees, man. We need to be loving trees. And that's the most Big Lebowski thing I've ever said. But-- So deforestation particularly sucks. But explain to us what you saw out there. And some of the images are nuts-- full jungle millennium trees next to what? PAUL ROSOLIE: Well, we call the trees-- MICHAEL KOSTA: This is a great example. PAUL ROSOLIE: --skyscrapers of life. And so each of these millennium trees can have thousands of species living on it.

4:47 And if you think of this tree, from the Renaissance to the World Wars to the current age, that tree's been out there, growing in the Amazon rainforest. So how many millions of spider, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals have been over that thing's branches? And when they cut them down, you're ending this thousand-year story. And we're never going to get it back in human lifespan. And so places that I love that I explored, where I knew the animals, were not just degraded, they were annihilated. And that's what we're seeing in the Amazon, is that we are losing acreage of this incredibly pristine habitat.

5:19 And once you lose it, it doesn't grow back. Why is that happening? What's it-- why are the trees being cut down? And why is it being burned? The expansion of agriculture, the beef industry, the soy industry-- everything is coming in there. And people just want land. And a lot of times, they're burning the ancient hardwoods. They're not even using the valuable wood that they're cutting. And we forget-- and Jane brought this up-- that with the loss of habitat is also massive individual suffering for the animals that live there.

5:48 And that's-- after living 20 years in the Amazon, I've come to think of myself as the voice for them. They can't come on the show and talk. They can't petition, go to the UN. And so they're all living out there in the Amazon. And it's the leafcutter ants and the butterflies and the hummingbirds that are creating the forest. They're carrying the seeds and pollinating the flowers that are making those trees that are keeping our Earth functioning. And so it's not just the animals live in a forest. They create the forest.

6:11 That's amazing. You write beautifully about your friend, JJ, who's native to Peru. Tell me a little bit about him and what he means to you and your journey. PAUL ROSOLIE: Yeah. He's the rarest of species. Someone recently called him the only unicorn in the Amazon. He's an Indigenous person who grew up-- he didn't have shoes until he was 13 years old. And so he learned from his grandmothers, grandfathers, back and back and back and back, all those Indigenous medicines, how to track, how to catch fish. And so when I met him, I was like, you know everything about the forest.

6:40 And he did. He knew how to cure everything. There's a sap-- if you have an illness, there's a sap for that. They can cure it. And the only thing that I knew was how to handle snakes. And he was terrified of snakes. And of course, I came in-- MICHAEL KOSTA: JJ's terrified of snakes? He used to be before we became anaconderos, we started-- the anaconda men. And so I said, I'll teach you how to handle snakes, but you got to teach me everything else. And so he opened the Amazon for me. Wow. And it was him that when we started exploring these places-- MICHAEL KOSTA: This is him and JJ.

7:10 And-- That's our first small anaconda. MICHAEL KOSTA: I don't know who that-- what that other thing is. By the way, thanks for not bringing that to the desk. I mean-- - I-- One out there? Yeah. Talk a little bit about-- you made contact with the Mashco Piro. Is that right? Am I saying that right? Yes, you are. MICHAEL KOSTA: An Indigenous tribe who is really not connected, been contacted with other humans. Tell me a little bit about this. This was some of the craziest storytelling in the book, great pictures too. And yeah, that was-- look at this. I mean, so this-- this looks like out of a movie set.

7:48 This is real? Yeah. We-- so we didn't contact them. They contacted us as. As Junglekeepers has grown, we protect 130,000 acres of the Amazon now, with the Indigenous people. JJ is leading that charge. And so we got called by a normal Indigenous community, who we interact with, who we hire as rangers. And they said, the tribes are coming out. And now, these people have been on the periphery of myth for years and years. And they said, no, they're coming. We've seen their footprints. They're coming out. And so me and two of the other directors of Junglekeepers went there, who both happened to be photographers.

8:22 MICHAEL KOSTA: They don't text. It's footprints. It's footprints. It's footprints. That's how they tell us. And I loved-- in here, it's like, they leave a stick on the beach if they're coming back. If the stick is gone, they're gone. Yes. God, it's [BLEEP] crazy-- And if you're walking through the forest and you see, like, an X of sticks on a trail, you don't go. MICHAEL KOSTA: Oh my god. Because they're telling you. But if you're walking and you don't know, with a machete, and you just cut the sticks, they will fire 7-foot arrows through you. MICHAEL KOSTA: Wow.

8:47 OK. And so I was there with Muhsin and Stefan, who both happened to be professional photographers, also Junglekeepers directors. And these people actually came out of the forest. And like you saw in that photo, they're looking at us with their bows and arrows and coming down the beach. And the anthropologist who was there-- I said, oh my god, they're Stone Age people. They're real Stone Age-- he goes, no, they don't have stones. He goes, they're pre Stone Age. - Wow. They've been in a time capsule in the jungle for thousands of years.

9:10 And so we had this moment, where they came out across the beach. And they put up their hands. And they wanted to interact with us. And it was just-- I mean, this is a historic thing. No one's ever gotten modern footage of these people. And we were trying to translate-- what do you want? And they said, bananas. They said they wanted plantains. They needed food. And so we gave them an offering of food. We pushed the boat across the river. And then there was this exchange, where they were saying, why are you cutting down our trees?

9:37 And what we believe is that they're getting pressured from the narco-traffickers, the loggers, the gold miners. And the vast regions of forest that used to exist are becoming smaller. And so they're coming out, and they're going, what is going on in the outside world? MICHAEL KOSTA: What the [BLEEP] is all this stuff? Why are you doing this? Why is a piece of metal flying over my head with-- helicopter? Also, what's metal? Right right. What do you want? What do I want? What do you want? What do you want, Paul? Beautiful story. - I want to protect the jungle.

10:09 You want to protect the jungle. Everyone's cutting down my jungle. I love the jungle. - OK, got it. That's what I thought, but I wanted to hear it from you. I loved this. And I think it's important to share it because it's easy to feel doom and gloom right now in particular, especially if you care about the environment or nature. But you say this on page 297. There's no question that we are alive at the most important time in history. Either we save the natural treasures that make our world what it is, or we curse all future generations with the repercussions of our greed.

10:42 And the reason I love that is it is telling us-- we have this amazing opportunity right now. It's not just doom and gloom. It is the most important time. We just have to do something, right? We've never before in history been faced with a problem as a global society where our ocean, fisheries, our forests, our ecosystems are in danger of collapsing. Clean air, fresh water, those things used to come standard on Earth. And we're ruining it. And the wildlife that we're losing-- elephants and tigers and all this incredible stuff-- we can still bring it back.

11:12 And we've done it. There's bald eagles now in the Hudson Valley. There's humpback whales coming back to New York. We've seen that we can bring back species, as long as you stop killing them. We got to do it. We got to do it.

11:28 The importance-- when I read this book, I just thought about all these adventures you're going on. And it made me want to go on more adventures. And I want to talk-- sure, I would love to go to the Peruvian jungle with you. I think? Talk about the importance of adventure, at least what it's meant for you. Well, I mean, I think just fly out your door and go for it. That's what I did at 18 years old. My parents were incredible. They knew I wasn't doing well in school. The dyslexia, I couldn't outgrow it. It doesn't wash off.

11:54 And so they just said, look, get out of school. Go to college. It'll be better for you. And I said, well, I'm buying a plane ticket to the Amazon rainforest. And so I went all the way there, met JJ. And I mean, it's like the lights came on. It's like the beginning of Jurassic Park when they first see the dinosaurs. I just went, these trees. And there's jaguars and anacondas. And there's no rules. It's just the jungle. You can jump in the river. And there's piranhas. And no one's trying to keep you safe. And so I could get this-- I was at tennis camp in high school, dude.

12:25 And so, like, I mean, my body's a Jackson Pollock painting of scars. I've been bitten by stingrays and every-- snakes and everything you can imagine-- crocodiles. But what we learned out there was that spending time in the forest, learning from the Indigenous people, seeing the smoke on the horizon-- JJ said to me, he said, you know, they're going to come, and they're going to destroy this place. And I said, well, there has to be somebody we can call. There has to be somebody that could do something about this. And he looked up.

12:51 He looked down, wherever. He goes, you see anybody here? And he goes, either you do something, or it's just all going to be gone. And so now, in this position that we've created Junglekeepers, which is the most direct way for people to protect the Amazon rainforest, now I have all these people messaging me. I have young kids messaging me, going, how do I get out there? And I'm like, dude, go carry the bags for the people studying the great whites, the people tagging giraffes, whatever it is. Or go plant wildflowers that the hummingbirds like in your own backyard.

13:18 But find a way to help. And find someone who's doing the work that you admire. That's what I did. I just went out there. And here's this guy who walked barefoot in the Amazon and knew how to sleep out in the jungle and make shelter. And I was like, I want to learn from that guy. And I love that. And I want to remind everyone-- you describe yourself as severely dyslexic. You're not a PhD. You barely got through school. But here you are, making a difference. Thank you for writing Junglekeeper. It's a pleasure to talk with you so much.

13:45 Junglekeeper is available now-- Paul Rosolie.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "Paul Rosolie - “Junglekeeper” & Protecting the Amazon Rainforest | The Daily Show"?

Michael Kosta (Guest), Paul Rosolie (Guest).

What is "Paul Rosolie - “Junglekeeper” & Protecting the Amazon Rainforest | The Daily Show" about?

Paul Rosolie, a jungle conservationist, shares his adventurous journey in the Amazon rainforest, detailing his encounters with wildlife, including an attempt to study anacondas and interactions with uncontacted tribes. His experiences blend humor and astonishment, revealing his deep passion for conservation inspired by figures like Jane Goodall and David Attenborough.

What is mentioned in this The Daily Show episode?

7 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Paul Rosolie, Junglekeeper, Jungle Keepers, Mashco Piro, Jane Goodall, David Attenborough. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "Paul Rosolie - “Junglekeeper” & Protecting the Amazon Rainforest | The Daily Show"?

The episode runs 14 min; the transcript is about 2,863 words in 29 timestamped sections.

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