This Wildlife Photographer Captures Grizzly Bears

By
Alex K
-

American wildlife photographer Thomas Mangelsen has photographed some of the world’s most amazing images of grizzly bears.  He has documented almost every aspect of grizzly bear #399 – the most popular mother bear in the world.

His book titled Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek is about “the extraordinary life and death celebration of famous Grizzly 399.” Though she was Mangelsen’s favorite bear, there was another bear who has caught his attention. She was nicknamed Blondie, inspired by the wheat-color hair around her adorable face. Mangelsen considered her to be the most beautiful bear he has ever seen.

The photographer named his image of Blondie as Eyes of the Grizzly because to him, her eyes tell her story.

“Her eyes tell you a lot about her personality, I think, and her character and her beauty,” he said during the interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes. Eyes of the Grizzly has earned praise as one of Mangelsen’s most visually impactful photographs.

In addition to grizzly bears, the photographer also captures the beauty of other incredible wild animals such as lions, leopards, gorillas, tigers and polar bears.

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Is there anything cuter than tiny grizzly bear cubs?

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I first saw Blondie in the spring of 2011, when she was approximately three years old, feeding on biscuitroot in the meadows adjacent to Pilgrim Creek. The little yellow flowers are the first to bloom after the snow melts in Grand Teton National Park and are a favorite food of grizzlies. When I first saw her, I thought she was one of the most beautiful bears I had ever seen. It had been raining all morning. She still had her winter coat. It was wet and her guard hairs were bleached to a silvery blonde. I immediately became quite drawn to her. From those first photos I made the print titled “Eyes of the Grizzly”, a favorite bear image of many, much like Grizzly 399 and her daughter 610. Blondie only stayed in the area for a month or so before disappearing. No one knew where she spent the rest of the year, but nearly every spring she would return to the same meadows when the biscuitroot bloomed. There were two years when she didn’t appear and many of her admirers, including myself, thought she may have died. Then the third season she showed up along Pilgrim Creek with yearling triplets. Unfortunately within a few weeks she had mysteriously lost those cubs. In 2017, much to everyone’s delight, she emerged with twin cubs of the year. Yesterday while driving across Pilgrim Creek bridge I saw Blondie and her now two year old cubs coming down still-snow-covered Pilgrim Creek. This is a record year for the amount of snowfall in Jackson Hole, and it will be a few weeks until we see fields of yellow, but seeing Blondie and her twins is a sure sign of spring in the Tetons.

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