Four score and 40 + 20 years ago . . . one of my MOST favorite 'NGM' covers ever !

[Scott T. Shier]

"A lion cub drapes a paw over its mother's shoulder in a

startlingly humanlike gesture on Tanzania's Serengeti plain.

Many a human mother wrote to Society headquarters 

seeking a copy of this photo after its May 1986 appearance."

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One of the indelible iconic covers of 'National Geographic' surely must be the the Lioness & her Cub, basking in the protection of the Serengeti, Africa's premier wildlife haven.

This classic photograph was used on the May 1986 issue; photo taken by Mitsuaki Iwago. He also took the photography for the lead-in, "A Photographic Portfolio", followed by "The Glory of Life" - (both about Africa's famous animal preserve beset by rhythms of natural life and poachers; author: Shana Alexander.

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To my surprise, 20 years later, the German-language edition of 'NGM' again used this photo -- on the cover! (below). The headline on the cover says: "What future does Africa's most beautiful wildlife reserve have?"

I thought this was a high honor, and was thrilled to see it used again thus. Oddly, I cannot find a caption credit for the cover for Mitsuaki Iwago; the accompanying article indicates "fotos" by Randy Olsen. 

August 2006 'NGM' --->

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Meanwhile, the photo has made it's (likely) predictable appearance in some the "best of" Nat Geo photography retrospectives, in the form of the newsstand "Collector's Editions", as well as 2 books, and even a 1996 issued pre-paid phone card! (I can't decide if that was a good thing or not -- great image, cheesy venue perhaps?) Hmm....

Here are the other appearances that I am aware of as of this date:

  1]  National Geographic ~ 125 Years (c. 2013) -- book; pg. 232 , 'The World In Pictures section/ Wild Lives of Wildlife' gallery

  2]  (merchandise) -- Silver Marketing Inc. ; a 1996 pre-paid phone card w/ 10 "units" on it -- (I did not know the Society was then licensing out it's Image Collection for such items, whatever)

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  3]  National Geographic ~ The Covers (c. 2014) -- book; pg. 30, in a sub-theme billed as "a mother's love"

  4]  then, on to the Collector's Editions' appearances: first up ---> "100 Best Pictures: Collector's Edition, Volume 1" (c. 2001) ; pgs. 84-85

  5] then, "100 Best Wildlife Pictures: Collector's Edition, Volume 3" (c. 2002) ; pgs. 10-11

  6] and, "WILDLIFE: The Best Photographs, Collector's Edition, Volume 13" (c. 2007) ; pgs. 80-81

Interesting to note, is that as per the Collector's Editions, there was of the 3, two of them indicated in small text along page bottom that the image was available for download for use as a desktop image. 

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Mitsuaki Iwago has done other work for the National Geographic, including some other cover stories [e.g., December 1994 'NGM' issue] over the years. He has also had several books of his photography published over time.

Here is an Amazon link to the titles that result in a 'search' of his name --->

Mitsuaki Iwago books on Amazon . com

And now, having shared all of the above, 'NGM' used his Lioness & Cub cover numerous times in their holiday gift idea advertisements, and/or subscription announcements. 

They were used in the following issues:

• October 1986
• November 1986
• December 1986
• January + February 1987 (same version)
• and, March 1987

Below I am inserting the screen shots, in order . . . 

[Scott T. Shier]