Colophon

The animal on the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Python is the Indian brown mongoose (Herpestes fuscus), a small mammal native to the forests of Sri Lanka and southwest India. It is very similar to the short-tailed mongoose (Herpestes brachyurus) of southeast Asia, of which it may be a subspecies.

The Indian brown mongoose is slightly larger than other species of mongoose, and is distinguished by its pointed tail and furry hind legs. Their fur varies from dark brown on their bodies to black on their legs. They are rarely seen by humans, suggesting that they are nocturnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk).

Until recently, data on the Indian brown mongoose was sparse and their population was thought to be vulnerable. Improved scientific monitoring has discovered a fairly large population, especially in southern India, so their status has been upgraded to Least Concern. Another population of the Indian brown mongoose was also recently discovered on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji.

Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world. To learn more about how you can help, go to animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Lydekker’s Royal Natural History. The cover fonts are URW Typewriter and Guardian Sans. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.