This episode focuses on the desert-like west and south of Madagascar. It might not rain there for nine months of the year and some years not at all.
To live here, you have to be a specialist. The Verreaux's sifakas lives in the strange "spiny forest" -- many of the trees here have savage spikes and some drip toxic chemicals. But this species of lemur is totally at home here -- they get all the moisture they need from the plants' hard leaves. Slow-motion filming shows their incredible knack of moving among the dagger-like spines without harming themselves.
Among the iconic baobab trees live huge-eyed mouse lemurs -- the world's smallest primates -- emerging at night to feed on the droppings of fluffy bugs. This is a land where opportunists survive the lean times -- the female vasa parrot gets males to feed her by singing loudly to them.
Gangs of ring-tailed lemurs bring up their babies through the toughest time of year. But these canny lemurs catch giant flying insects, plucking them from the air.
When at last the rains come for a few fleeting weeks, everything changes. Labord's chameleon is the shortest-lived land vertebrate in the world. This striking animal lives just 12 weeks from hatching to adulthood. It spent nine months in an egg and has only three months to pack in the rest of its life -- growing to adulthood, fighting off rivals, mating and dying soon afterwards.
The challenge for Madagascar's wildlife is not just with the passing seasons. Much of it is under threat from hunting and loss of habitat. David sums up: "We are still unravelling the mysteries of Madagascar's wildlife. How tragic it would be if we lost it before we've even understood it."
The Madagascar Diaries feature the filming of the mating of fearsome predator the fossa.-YT

(From Feb.23,2011)

Episode one here: http://videosift.com/video/Madagascar-Island-of-Marvels
Episode two here: http://videosift.com/video/Madagascar-Lost-Worlds