A Day Away: Walk on the wild side in Dubuque

DUBUQUE — Children hopped, babbled and pointed their way to the bears and kitty-cats on opening day of “Thomas D. Mangelsen: A Life in the Wild.” So did I, but in a more low-key manner.

This spectacular exhibit of 22 large-scale photographs by one of the world’s leading nature photographers debuted Feb. 5, 2002, at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque. This is one of my favorite places to spend a day away, and it’s hosting the 40-piece collection for a year, switching out the photos midyear. I’ll definitely go back for that.

Mangelsen, much-lauded for his work behind the lens and in wildlife conservation, handpicked classic images he considers his legacy photos for this touring exhibit, which started in 2018 and is traveling nationwide.

The Grand Island, Neb., native, now 76, has spent 45 years seeking out the most remote, often treacherous, places to photograph wild animals and endangered species acting in unexpected ways.

The first image visitors will see is “Catch of the Day,” a jaw-dropping view of a sockeye salmon jumping into the gaping jaws of an Alaskan brown bear. It’s not hard to imagine the outcome in this iconic 1988 image captured in Brooks Falls, Alaska.

Do not rush through this exhibition. Part of the beauty and fun lies in creating your own stories about what the animals are doing. Benches let you sit and contemplate the beauty of the images singularly and collectively.

After writing the captions in your head, be sure to read the labels, chock full of information on where and when the photos were taken, and the lengths Mangelsen took to freeze these moments in time.

“Light in the Forest,” 1998. A regal Bengal tigress doesn’t look like she’ll eat anyone as she’s lounging on the edge of a rock. The label says she is among “one of the most imperiled large predators on Earth and scientists predict they could vanish from the wild by the middle of this century.”

Mangelsen wants the image to “serve as a visual meditation, a reminder that tigers are incredible sentient beings worthy of our respect, reverence and protection.”

Since traveling by foot was deemed too dangerous in India’s Bandhavgarh National Park, he rode an elephant up a steep, rocky slope covered with “slippery brown leaves,” and found this cub perched on a rock overlooking a meadow.

His May 2, 1998, journal entry reads: “The forest was dark — an hour later the light came through the trees and sprinkled her face. It was a magical scene and a rare opportunity in the six to eight minutes before she got up, stretched and moved up the mountain, disappearing in the shadows.”

That’s the kind of glimpse into his world and his process you can glean from the labels.

The photographs are displayed on six walls that make for easy passage through the second-floor gallery, and plenty of close-up views of nature in action. Media is allowed to take photos in the gallery, but signs say that visitors cannot. That’s another reason to take your time studying each image, whether it’s a majestic eagle in flight or a kaleidoscope of colors on panoramic mountain meadow views where often an animal can be spotted ambling across the landscape, practically swallowed up by the scale of its surroundings.

Some of my particular favorites are:

“Morning Shower,” 2006, where a king penguin on a far south Atlantic island shakes off water, surrounded by his colony. It looks like he’s just getting ready to start his day, but he’s already been in the water, catching his fill of krill for breakfast.

“Amboseli Crossing,” 1994, where at first glance I thought I was seeing one giant elephant lumbering across the desert in Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. Upon reading the label, I realized quick glances can be deceiving. This elephant with multiple legs and tails is actually a pack of pachyderms marching single-file behind the matriarch, Joyce. And if read all the way through, you’ll discover that after 16 years in her leadership role, Joyce died in April 2009, most likely poached “because of her beautiful tusks.” Her carcass was never found.

“Bad Boys of the Arctic,” 1992, made me laugh. Three polar bear bros look like they’re watching the Super Bowl. The one in front looks like he’s sitting in his snowy recliner, with a belly full of beer. Reading the label, you’ll discover it’s actually a mother with her two sons. They were walking across Canada’s Hudson Bay shore when one boy laid down for a quick back scratch on a snowy chunk of ice. I like my story better.

“Wind Song,” 1991, shows two polar bears with their open mouths so close together they look like they’re going to either kiss or eat each other. Judging from the title, perhaps they’re going to sing a duet. It’s a sweet, sweeping view of white on white on white, as they sit in the snow in Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada.

Mangelsen writes: “I was obviously drawn to the mirthful spirit of these bears but what also caught my attention were other elements of composition — the symmetrical shapes, the striations of light and shadow moving across the snow and even the differing radiations of whiteness. Some might think of the Arctic as a barren wasteland but to me it’s a source of constant revelation.”

“Mountain Outlaw,” 2014, will make you stop in your tracks, as a 700-pound male grizzly bear seems to be charging the camera in Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park.

“The photograph is an illusion in two ways,” Mangelsen writes. “For one, the bear isn’t sparring for a fight with me. He has his eyes on something located beyond my left shoulder — a female (in heat) that has his attention. For another, he has no harmful intention in mind for humans.” Plus, he had been chomping on a bison carcass.

Museum complex

When you’re through marveling in nature’s splendor on the walls, be sure to wander through the museum’s aquarium to see the fish and reptiles swimming, sunning and hanging out on rocks.

I’m always bummed when I have to run in and out, because there’s just so much to see and do on this sprawling 14-acre campus.

Most of the buildings and features are free with paid admission, but for another $12, you can feed the stingrays during twice-daily encounters. Petting them is like petting liquid velvet.

The facility also has two 4D theaters on-site, screening nature-themed films. Current offerings are “Museum Alive” and “Hurricane 3D.”

The website highlights 39 of the exhibits and cases beckoning visitors of all ages to learn more about the Mississippi River system, its ecology, flora and fauna above and below the surface. Among them: aviaries, the Backwater Marsh, a blacksmith shop, boat shop, cave stories, the First River People, a greenhouse, Gulf of Mexico aquarium, a log cabin, a sand and gravel barge, the Main Channel aquarium with really big fish, Otter Habitat, RiverWorks Splash Zone, various labs and the William M. Black dredge boat.

City of Dubuque

Iowa’s oldest city — named for French Canadian fur trader Julien Dubuque who arrived in 1785 — harbors all sorts of fun in all seasons. Among the attractions are gaming and concerts at the Q and Diamond Jo casinos; recreation at the Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, the historic Mines of Spain Recreation Area and nearby Sundown Mountain and Chestnut Mountain ski parks. Wining and dining options for every budget are sprinkled around town, and of course, the city sits on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, a gateway to all sorts of recreation.

From April 1 to Nov. 30, I highly recommend you hop aboard the Fenelon Place Elevator for a short, steep ride up and down the bluff, affording panoramic views of the city, the waterfront, three states — and quite possibly a few critters, like the groundhog my family spied on a ride many moons ago.

Spend a day or a weekend there, and you’ll discover so many ways the city lives up to its slogan, “Masterpiece on the Mississippi.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com