The Sundarban Forest in Bangladesh, which is fed by a network of waterways that rise and fall every 12 hours with the tide, is home to an estimated 400 tigers out of a global population thought to be below 3,000. There have been several attempts to gain understanding of how tigers living in the Sundarbans manage to survive, but the thick vegetation, large tidal fluctuations and a maze of waterways has hampered these efforts.
To obtain broadcast-quality footage of the tigers, in both low light conditions and total darkness, a film crew from the BBC's Natural History Unit used Derwent's SuperLED, which is designed to deliver long range IR illumination.
"Tigers are mostly nocturnal so having the ability to film at night with the help of Infra-Red equipment is essential," says Dan Rees, who is part of the BBC team which is making a series of documentaries about the Ganges.
The filming project will also help local conservationists understand more about the tigers' night-time activities. "This should help to formulate an action plan for conserving this critically endangered species," adds Dan Rees.
The Sundarban Tiger Project, launched by the Bangladesh Forest Department in 2005, is working closely with the film crew.
"All media coverage of the project adds to conservation awareness so we were all doing our best to get some good footage," says a project spokesman.
During the filming the crew hung the lamps from trees, bamboo towers and specially constructed filming platforms. SuperLED 's robust design and construction makes it suitable for use in the harshest environmental conditions, like the remote 10,000 km2 Sunderbans Forest, the lamp is supplied with either an 850nm or 940nm filter for covert applications.
"Interestingly it's possible that tigers can see the higher frequency covert lighting that is totally invisible to humans," says Linda Williams UK Sales Manager of Derwent. "There is certainly anecdotal evidence about this and it's something that the researchers may be able to find out more about during their filming."