Despite the bear’s significance, the Canadian Geographical Journal didn’t feature the first bear on its cover (a grizzly) until 42 years after its inception in 1930. The magazine’s covers didn’t even start displaying photos until 1936 (before that it was the simple design shown at right) and when they did the editors chose to feature people, historic moments and landscape shots over wildlife photos, which only began to appear in July 1946. Birds were preferred over mammals, and even then only ungulates (such as deer and a mountain goat) made the cut for a total of four covers.

A large grizzly bear broke the mold in April 1972. It was soon followed by a polar bear trio (May 1975) and a slew of other carnivores — including wolves and large cats — which have appeared with increased frequency ever since.

According to Wendy Lewis, historian and archivist to the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, the “marmalade bear”, an orange Kermode cub (Aug/Sept 1977), was perhaps the most popular Canadian Geographic cover to date.

“Wildlife covers have proven to be of most interest to Can Geo readers,” she said. And they continue to be a major draw for our readership today, as evidenced by our continued love of bear covers.