Written By: Eliza Berman
As magazine titles go, LIFE is perhaps the most all-encompassing in the history of periodicals. 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.
Liz Ronk edited this gallery for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LizabethRonk.
February 8, 1937 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Charles J. Belden
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
April 3, 1944 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Nina Leen
September 9, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Martha Holmes
September 23, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Frank Scherschel
November 4, 1946 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by David Douglas Duncan
August 23, 1948 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Jon Brenneis
January 31, 1949 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by George Karger
October 8, 1951 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Burton Glinn
November 30, 1953 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Fritz Goro
December 22, 1952 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Ed Clark
March 22, 1954 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Roger Kirschner
November 8, 1954 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Gjon Mili
November 24, 1958 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Ralph Crane
March 16, 1959 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Dmitri Kessel
June 27, 1960 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Fritz Goro
February 10, 1961 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Henry Burroughs
March 1, 1963 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Nina Leen
June 19, 1964 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Francis Miller
January 6, 1967 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by John Dominis
December 5, 1969 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by John Dominis
January 30, 1970 LIFE Magazine cover
Photo by Co Rentmeester
