Tracking down the elusive Knysna elephants

The sound of birds calling, twittering and chattering to one another fills the cool forest air.

The trees towering above - kalander, yellowwood, stinkwood - create a vast, soaring canopy of mingled shade and light that surrounds you as you walk the paths.

The Knysna forests are one of the great wonders of our country, and one of the most rewarding experiences you can have is to explore them with children.

Recently, I was there with my wife and stepchildren. The beauty and the fascination of the forest were enhanced by the excitement they brought to their first encounter with it.

A century ago there were up to 600 elephants here. They were hunted ruthlessly for their ivory, but for a long time the impenetrable nature of the forest and the elephants' skill at threading their way through the trees meant that their numbers remained relatively stable.

Then gold was discovered in the area and, although the seam petered out, it led to many more humans arriving, establishing a mine and a small town.

Adorable but Endangered: Lemurs Face Possible Extinction

If there were a contest for cutest animal on the planet, the lemur would be a strong contender. But cuteness alone can't save the creatures from the political forces threatening their existence, especially not the illegal loggers destroying the lemurs' precious rainforest habitat.

Lemurs are small primates that are endemic to Madagascar and are not found living in nature outside the island nation in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa.

There are nearly 100 different species of lemurs, including the black and white lemur, the ring-tail lemur, the tiny mouse lemur and even the mischievous dancing lemur.

"Nightline's" Dan Harris visited a lemur park about 15 miles outside Antananarivo, the capital city, where he got to know these impish little animals and saw, firsthand, the emerging threats to their survival.

A recent military coup in the impoverished, unstable country left a power vacuum that has allowed heavily armed illegal loggers, known as the "timber mafia," to pillage the lemur's natural habitat.

One of the forests is the Marojejy National Park, a towering, dauntingly beautiful landscape reminiscent of a set from "Jurassic Park." A few weeks ago, the forest in northeastern Madagascar had largely been taken over by looters and had to be shut down.

Why Orangutans Will Go Extinct if We Don't Act Now

One of the world's largest paper companies plans to clear a large portion of unprotected forest in Indonesia being used as a sanctuary for critically endangered orangutans, according to environmental groups working in the area. Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper and a local joint venture partner, Sinar Mas Group, received a license to clear hundreds of hectares (acres) of trees just outside the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park on Sumatra island in May.

Last week Matthew at TreeHugger.com reported that $30 million in debt will be forgiven in exchange for increased forest protection in Sumatra. This is the largest debt relief for conservation agreement ever reached. What this means is that Indonesia will put $30 million over the next eight years into a trust fund, which will issue grants for forest conservation and restoration work on the island. That work is sorely needed, considering that in the past 20 years or so about 90 percent of the original forest cover has been removed due to logging or conversion to agriculture. That's simply unconscionable.

Jaguars Habitat Fragmented and Shrinking

 Jaguar Fragmented HabitatAt dusk one evening, deep in a Costa Rican forest, a young male jaguar rises from his sleep, stretches, and silently but determinedly leaves forever the place where he was born.

There's shelter here, and plenty of brocket deer, peccaries, and agoutis for food. He has sensed, too, the presence of females with which he might mate. But there's also a mature male jaguar that claims the forest-and the females. The older cat will tolerate no rivals. The breeze-blown scent of the young male's mother, so comforting to him when he was a cub, no longer binds him to his home. So he goes.

But the wanderer has chosen the wrong direction. In just a few miles he reaches the edge of the forest; beyond lies a coffee plantation. Pushed by instinct and necessity, he keeps moving, staying in the trees along fences and streams. Soon, though, shelter consists only of scattered patches of shrubs and a few trees, where he can find nothing to eat. He's now in a land of cattle ranches, and one night his hunger and the smell of a newborn calf overcome his reluctance to cross open areas. Creeping close before a final rush, he instantly kills the calf with one snap of his powerful jaws.