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The animal on the cover of GitOps Cookbook is a yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata). These small mammals are found in sub-Saharan Africa, primarily in forests, woodlands, grasslands, and scrub. They are sometimes referred to as red meerkats. Yellow mongoose are smaller than most other species, weighing only 16–29 ounces. There are 12 subspecies that vary in color, body size (9–13 inches), tail (7–10 inches), and length of coat: the northern subspecies found in Botswana are typically smaller with grizzled grayish coats while the southern populations in South Africa and Namibia are larger and tawny yellow. All subspecies have slender bodies with lighter fur on the chin and underbelly, small ears, pointed noses, and bushy tails.

Yellow mongoose are carnivores that mainly feed on insects, birds, frogs, lizards, eggs and small rodents. They are social species and live in colonies of up to 20 individuals in extensive, permanent burrows with many entrances, chambers, and tunnels. Most of their day is spent foraging or sunbathing outside the burrow. In the wild, they breed from July to September with most females giving birth to two or three offspring in October and November. The young are born in an underground chamber and stay there until they are weaned (about 10 weeks). Yellow mongoose are considered fully grown at 10 months old.

Yellow mongoose are classified as a species of least concern by the IUCN; their populations are stable and they don’t face any major threats. They do carry of strain of rabies in the wild and are seen as pests and hunted by farmers in parts of South Africa. Many of the animals on O’Reilly covers are endangered; all of them are important to the world.

The cover illustration is by Karen Montgomery, based on an antique line engraving from The Pictorial Museum of Animated Nature. The cover fonts are Gilroy Semibold 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.