World renowned wildlife biologist and conservationist Forrest Galante didn’t have what one might call a “normal” upbringing. He grew up in the African nation of Zimbabwe and when he wasn’t on his family’s 200-acre farm or acting out at an uptight British boarding school, he was on safari in the bush.

Put another way, Mr. Galante is a more well-spoken version of Donnie from Nickelodeon’s The Wild Thornberrys. “Exactly right!” he tells Forbes Entertainment when we bring up this comparison during an interview about his debut book, Still Alive. “There’s a lot of truth to that. It really is. That was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid for that very reason.”

The idea of structure was maddening to a young Galante, who felt more of a kinship with the Thornberry clan, which traveled all over the world to exotic locations for the sake of filming content for a nature documentary.

“I was feral. I don’t know how else to say it,” Galante admits, unabashedly. “I hated wearing shoes ... I would always want to be running around outside. I never wanted to sleep in my own bed. I never wanted to go to school ... I just wanted to be fishing and catching stuff and chasing stuff and building bows and arrows and climbing trees. The funny thing is most people grow out of that like a normal human and I grew worse.”

Described as “part memoir, part biological adventure,” Still Alive (written during the COVID-19 pandemic, it goes on sale early next week) chronicles Galante’s early life in Africa and how it instilled him with a profound appreciation for the natural world. Galante says he wants to take readers “on a fun and wild ride to some of the most remote and rare places of the planet to see animals that, quite frankly, nobody else on Earth has ever seen — all while delivering an inspiring message of hope.”

As the book’s synopsis will tell you, Galante has discovered new species of animals and enjoyed (though that might not be the best word for it) close run-ins with drug cartels and vengeful government officials. You may be quick to call him a real-world Indiana Jones, but Galante is a little too humble to accept that title.

“It’s all in the hat!” he jokes. “People have called me the modern day Charles Darwin and the Indiana Jones of biology. Those are super fun and I love telling them to my wife in confidence, but they’re not something I would ever accredit myself. They’re ridiculous, fun, catchy titles that I’m humbled to be called, but they’re not [how I see myself]. What am I? I’m just a wildlife biology nerd.”

What Still Alive won’t tell you is that Galante has also been chased by rhinos, survived two plane crashes, and seen a man nearly gored by Cape Buffalo. That man was hurled into the Zambezi River and nearly eaten by a Nile crocodile. If another memoir is in the cards, those stories will certainly make the cut, but for now, Still Alive is a great place to start for anyone hoping to learn how to make a job out of saving the planet.

“I lay a very clear footprint in the book — how I went from a little kid to being a top presenter in the wildlife space,” Galante explains. “It’s not something you can answer in a single sentence on Instagram. It’s not something you can talk about in a TV show that’s dedicated to another subject matter. But it is something I can talk about in the book, and that’s really fun because at the end of the day, what I explain is that passion comes first when it comes to your career. And for me, passion was always conservation and wildlife; and somehow, I landed with a career in it.”

What makes Galante so unique is his aversion to “the end is nigh” outlook on the state of environmentalism. While it is true that an estimated 2,000 species go extinct every year, he isn’t giving up hope just yet — even if a nihilistic viewpoint does make for a better headline.

“One thing I hate is eco-phobia. Like, The world is ending, the doom and gloom,” he says. “The thing that I fight with the most is trying to always keep the message positive. It’s not too late, it’s not the end of the world. Using a plastic straw tomorrow isn’t going to kill every sea turtle. I’m saying do the right things, make the right decisions, but it’s not all hope is lost.”

While he never gained Eliza Thornberry’s ability to converse with animals (as far as we know), Galante is a bit like Dr. Seuss’s Lorax. His job is to speak up for the things of this world that can’t speak up for themselves. Luckily, the world of conservation is a lot trendier today than it was just a few decades ago.

“As opposed to a couple dozen hard-working scientists like myself grinding an uphill battle, it’s now shifting, where conservation is in a great place and only getting better because more and more people seem to care about it,” he adds.

Still Alive goes on sale from Hachette Book Group next Tuesday, June 1. For more Galante-related content, you can check out The Wild Times Podcast and a TikTok account recently created on the advice of Forrest’s publicist, Ethan.  

“I don’t even f—in’ know what TikTok is,” Galante says, laughing. “Ethan here convinced me that it was a good way to get the message of conservation out to so many millions of kids who are on TikTok. I don’t care what the medium is — whether it’s a book, a TV show, a TikTok. It doesn’t matter. I’m just a dork who wants to share my message.”