southern madagascar is one in such areas. added to the problem affecting the madagascar the environment. they are trying to help people with dry conditions and the scarcity of water. ♪ >> balbob trees are made to last. they have been planted for 3000 years. this is one of the driest corners of the island. a tree can go three years without water. humans cannot. the parts of the plateau where water is to be found tend to be the most densely populated. everyone gets their water from this well and these days is not nearly enough to go around. by the afternoon, the well is empty. people are worried. there has always been bad years, they explain, years when it did not yield much but never one after the other. if things carry on like this, they don't know what they will do. >> it has hardly rain here at all since 2009. there were huge cyclos that brought a little rain but 2009 was dry and so was 2010. it was a complete disaster for the people. >> if there is no rain, there is no harvest. that means there is not enough to eat. southe

we are working witht madagascar since 2002. if you don't know about the iucn, the united states government has the endangered species act. this is a global consortium of zoos, aquariums and governments that were to establish the status of wild places and wild things. this is a very important group, and as a biologist and a scientist, people go there to get the status of the wild places. this is a very important group. the conservation strategy funding was taken in 2011 and this is building on the domino effect. people tend to work for the other third world countries. they are brought to stanford and they are taught economics and economic analysis to get a tool belt, so they can stand in front of the decision makers and really talk about the language of development, which is economics, and help make important decisions. this is a very unique model and this is a collaboration that we have just gotten into. the conservation strategy fund. if you are not familiar with earth watch, this assistance, science and action. you can help s

neither dog nor cat, the foosa stalks the forests of madagascar, waiting to bite the faces off its victims with its bone-crunching jaws. its prey? this wacky guy. a lee more that seems to defy gravity. >> lesson number one. never leave bananas in your room. >> reporter: and from the comedic to the majestic. also on the deadly 60, this eagle. the inspiration behind the phoenix in the harry potter films. and then, the insects. >> it plunges that backe deep into insect prey and injects a kind of acid which just turns the prey into liquid and gets a yummy meal. >> reporter: following all these predators day in and day out, you get a sense of how brutal nature can be. >> that is one way of looking at it, yeah. if you're a small animal, everything else wants to eat you. but there is a beauty and a purity in that, as well. >> reporter: it is, after all, nature at its best and most wild.

after hiking for five hours up a steep, slippery, slug-infested -- blood suckers -- mountain in madagascarah, there he is -- to see these lee mores, known as "silky sifakas." or choppering into a cloud forest in the mountains of papua new guinea, and d ing radio antennas to track down a tree kangaroo. she is cute. >> she's beautiful. >> reporter: getting close to wild animals is not only difficult but also dangerous. one time, i got chased by and elephant. but really, it's we humans who are the threat. in these new pictures, you can actually see poachers on the hunt. the hope is that these andid shotwill wake all of us up to the beauty of the creatures with whom we share this planet, from four-on the elephants all the way down to five-inch close long mouse opossums. dan harris, abc news. >> and we thank you for watching tonight. we always have the very latest at abcnews.com. "nightline" will be along later. >>> buy area real estate f you're willing to buy, you're not alone. >> and doing battle with bart and right to cutoff cell service. bart claiming it has the supreme court on its side. >

difficult, as i can attest, after hiking for five hours up a steep, slippery, slug-infested mountain in madagascarnew guinea and using radio antennas to track down a tree kangaroo. >> she's cute. >> she's beautiful. >> reporter: getting close to wild animals is not only difficult, but dangerous. one time i got chased by a wild elephant. but really it's we humans who are the threat. in these new pictures you can actually see poachers on the hunt. the hope is these candid shots will wake all of us up to the beauty of the creatures with whom we share this planet. from four-ton elephants all the way down to five-inch long mouse opossums. dan harris, abc news. >> did that makekeou nostalgic for your park ranger days, your old job? >> i love anything to do with animals. animal stories are like catnip for me. >> you love it you love it. but you had a bad monkey experience. >> they tried to kill me in south africa. i'm not kidding. my sister will back me up. my step dad almost had a heart attack laughing at me. they swarmed me and almost ran me into an electric fence. >> but you lived to tell the story on