Polar Dance: Born of the North Wind - Hardcover

Mangelsen, Thomas D.; Bruemmer, Fred

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1890310034 ISBN 13: 9781890310035

Publisher: Images of Nature, 1997

Synopsis

Over two hundred photographs chronicle the lives of a mother polar bear, her two cubs, and a lone male bear through the seasons of an Arctic year

About this title

Reviews

The polar bear, the largest land carnivore, ranges over some five million miles of snow-covered northern land and frozen sea. The often ferocious weather of the Arctic, its remoteness, and the bear's own fierce reputation have conspired to discourage many photographers from tracking them there. Mangelsen, who spent eight years following and photographing polar bears under extraordinarily daunting conditions, has produced a vivid documentary of their lives, focusing on a female polar bear and her two cubs through the four seasons. The 280 color photographs are both technically accomplished (many, despite the speed with which the bears can move, are beautifully composed) and fascinating: shots of bears drowsing in the snow, navigating icefields, stalking seals, and serenely swimming in Arctic waters. Mangelsen includes photographs of other Arctic wildlife (foxes, geese, walrus, ptarmigan) and some shots of icy landscapes that nicely convey the Arctic's size and harsh beauty. Naturalist and photographer Bruemmer contributes a lively, precise narrative detailing the specifics of a polar bear's life. A handsome, eye-opening work. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Mangelsen is a well-known nature photographer, and in Polar Dance, he has produced what is probably the definitive collection of images of polar bears. These "ice bears" spend most of their lives in a land of snow and ice (the polar summer lasts mere weeks), and Mangelsen's evocative photos of white bears covered in snow, lying spread-eagled on pack ice, or swimming among ice floes give the reader a sense of this harsh habitat. Bruemmer's text is a factual account of arctic ecology and the niche the polar bear fills in this surprisingly rich ecosystem, coupled with two interspersed, parallel stories covering a year in the lives of a lone male bear and a female bear with two cubs. The text is informative, but a bibliography or lists of citations would have greatly added to its value as a reference source. This lush coffee-table book is recommended for libraries with large natural-history collections. Nancy Bent

An award-winning nature photographer, Mangelsen followed polar bears for eight years to collect the images featured here, over 250 exquisite color photographs that take the reader on a year-long journey through the Arctic.The accompanying text, by Canadian naturalist Bruemmer, chronicles a year in the life of a mother polar bear and her cubs and a young male bear as they experience the changing seasons in their Arctic wilderness habitat. The book's focus is on the polar bear but is balanced with images of walruses, seals, foxes, birds, characteristic vegetation, and the seasonally changing landscape. Mangelsen has surpassed his goal of creating a "beautiful picture book on bears," as this volume also presents a learning forum for those who seek an understanding of the Arctic but are unlikely to travel there. Sitting down with this book is an absorbing experience that will leave the reader with a new respect and admiration for the Arctic and its inhabitants. Highly recommended.?Deborah Emerson, Monroe Community Coll., Rochester, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Images of Nature
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1890310034
• ISBN 13: 9781890310035
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264
• Editor: Blessley Cara