LIFE is an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent “special” until 1978, a monthly from 1978 until 2000, and an online supplement since 2008. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, LIFE was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest magazine known for the quality of its photography, and was one of the nation’s most popular magazines, regularly reaching one-quarter of the population.
Though the magazine specialized in facets of human life—from war to fashion and culture to politics—the editors more than dabbled in the lives of our four-legged (and slithering and winged) friends. Someone in the art department clearly had a soft spot for dogs, but mice, lorises, triggerfish and walruses all had their turns on the cover, as well.
For their contributions to science and cinema, agriculture and plain old human companionship, animals more than earned their ample coverage in LIFE—though they probably couldn’t have cared less.
March 1, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover. Photo by Henry M. Lester.
April 26, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover. Photo by Torkel Korling.
July 26, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover. Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
January 10, 1938 LIFE Magazine cover. Photo by Lane Flinders.
December 12, 1938 LIFE Magazine cover. Photo by George Karger.
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