THOMAS D MANGELSEN

MY BIG 5: Polar bear, elephant, rhino, tiger, grizzly bear mangelsen.com

FAVOURITE WILDLIFE LOCATION: YELLOWSTONE, USA

Yellowstone in the United States is one of my favourite locations for photographing wildlife. I moved to Jackson Hole and the Yellowstone area because there is so much wildlife here. It’s where I’ve been probably for 40 years, and probably I will die here. Hopefully I still have a few years left. I had deer walking across my yard last night, and we get so many birds coming to the bird feeder. Yesterday, I saw otters, and I am looking right now at the Tetons in the snow, and it’s pretty hard to beat. If I couldn’t live in this place, I don’t know where I would go. I am very fortunate.

FAVOURITE ANIMAL TO PHOTOGRAPH: POLAR BEAR

Polar bears are so beautiful, and they live in a really challenging place. They’re difficult to photograph, animated… they do the play fighting. They could be very dangerous in a situation if you are alone on the ice because they are total carnivores, unlike grizzly bears who eat berries and grasses. Polar bears are the most powerful creatures in the north, the top of the food chain.

Their behaviour is also very interesting, such as the way they treat their young. The Inuits have made beautiful carvings of polar bears because their silhouettes and their shapes are themselves beautiful. The history of the Inuit with polar bears is important, as polar bears are in their legends.

“Climate change is changing everything. Climate change is the big one. If we don’t solve that, we can’t solve anything”