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The animal on the cover of Programming Voice Interfaces are Mozambique rain frogs (Breviceps mossambicus). These frog can be found throughout south and central Africa in dry, wet, or subtropical savannas, greenlands, or shrublands. They are part of the Brevicipitidae family.

The Mozambique rain frog is round and stout in physique. Females can grow to be about two inches in length (from the flat snout to the base of the hind legs). The outer of the four toes on each leg are considerably shorter than the inner ones. The legs themselves are fairly short as well. Coloring in the sexes varies only slightly, with brown shades appearing in the throat of males. The rest of the underbelly is a cream color with darker blotches. The back or “top” part of the frog is also of a brownish shade, with specks of darker colors. There is also a dark streak that extends down the sides of the frog, from the eye to the back legs.

Unlike most frogs, the Mozambique rain frog doesn’t croak. Instead, it emits a higher-pitched noise, like a squeal. This sound more closely resembles a kitten’s meow than a traditional frog cry.

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.