Shark Week is that point of 12 months when viewers will tune into Discovery in droves to find out about sharks and/or see scientists have enjoyable with them, a la Dancing with Sharks with Tom Bergeron within the 2025 TV schedule. Forrest Galante is an everyday contributor, and he was again with the newest Alien Sharks installment this 12 months, however that wasn’t all on Discovery for July 2025. He additionally hosted a brand new three-part collection referred to as Animals on Medicine. Based on Galante when talking with CinemaBlend, he has much more animals in thoughts to proceed for a second season.
I tuned in for the three episodes of Animals on Medicine, which all aired on Discovery on July 28 and can be found streaming now with an HBO Max subscription. As anyone who was all the time fascinated by the story of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine hippos in Colombia and an everyday viewer of Forrest Galante’s makes an attempt to search out alien sharks annually (even when orcas pose an issue), the present was a pure match for me. After I spoke with the host, he defined what units Animals on Medicine aside and makes it necessary past a considerably sensationalist title:
I’ve performed a whole lot of collection at Discovery at this level. A variety of completely different specials, and this one’s actually impactful as a result of it is loud, it is foolish in title, it’s extremely enjoyable and Discovery-esque. However the actuality of it’s it breaks down a extremely giant drawback, which is human-wildlife battle in a pharmaceutical battle manner, which is our medication taking place the bathroom, our booze getting ignored for bears to get into. Actually, the cocaine commerce, inspiring on the earth’s largest and most dangerous invasive species. I imply, it is a loopy, truly scientific present, and I am excited for individuals to grasp that aspect of it, the animal aspect of it, and our human penalties of what we do and the way it impacts the atmosphere.
With Discovery airing all three episodes back-to-back-to-back in a single night time and the present having such an extremely particular premise, I actually assumed that Animals on Medicine actually needed to be a one-and-done collection. In spite of everything, what number of animals may there actually be which are so particularly affected by prescribed drugs with sufficient proof to make up a full particular?
Effectively, in response to Forrest Galante, there are a lot extra animals that would match the invoice for future seasons of Animals on Medicine. He stated:
There’s three animals being featured within the upcoming particular premiere, and that’s meth gators, drunk bears, and cocaine hippos. And I assume if it does very well on this time slots or slots, I’ve an entire record of sixteen extra the place animals are being affected by numerous narcotics and influential substances. So who is aware of? Perhaps this might be a protracted standing factor like Alien Sharks.
I’d recognized in regards to the cocaine hippos from different documentaries, however meth gators and drunk bears had been new to me! I received’t go too deeply into what occurs with Forrest Galante’s efforts to study extra about how these species are affected by human prescribed drugs, however I’ll say that there’s one phase of the meth gator episode that will have been an excessive amount of for me to be a part of in actual life even when I used to be an alligator aficionado.
Galante didn’t record the sixteen species that he may cowl in future seasons of Animals on Medicine, however sadly, there are apparently rather a lot. (Enjoyable truth: Discovery aired a Shark Week particular referred to as Cocaine Sharks a pair years in the past, additionally obtainable streaming now on HBO Max.)
This 12 months’s installment of Alien Sharks proved that he positively hasn’t run out of sharks to cowl in his recurring collection of specials specializing in very particular, lesser recognized shark species which are usually at risk from human encroachment. With 2025’s Alien Sharks: Demise Down Underneath taking him to the waters of Australia and involving the host injecting himself with shark venom, I needed to ask: is it ever arduous to discover a unique approach for a collection of species? He defined:
With over 500 unimaginable shark species on the planet, it isn’t arduous in any respect. What’s arduous is getting Discovery to grasp how we are able to hold showcasing increasingly distinctive, unbelievable species. And it isn’t that arduous, as a result of they hold doing it and I hold doing it, so it is an awesome partnership, and I find it irresistible. I feel Alien Sharks is simply so great as a result of it permits us to carry these much less acknowledged species of elasmobranch to the display screen.
If you happen to missed the wild experience of Shark Week 2025 or Animals on Medicine, you’re in luck with all of them obtainable on HBO Max. I went in not figuring out what to anticipate from Animals on Medicine, however probably not anticipating that there could possibly be greater than these three species so affected by human prescribed drugs {that a} full Discovery particular could possibly be centered on them. That simply goes to point out what I knew about… nicely, animals on medication! Maybe Galante could have the possibility to cowl extra of these sixteen species he has in thoughts.