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The animal on the cover of Introducing Python is an Asiatic Python (Python reticulatus). This snake is not quite as scary as it looks: it is nonvenomous and only occasionally attacks humans. Approaching lengths of seven meters (and sometimes over nine), this can be the longest snake or reptile in the world, but most individuals are closer to three or four meters long. The Latin terminology in its name refers to the netlike appearance of its patterns and coloring. The size and color of the shapes varies widely, particularly according to location, but diamonds are common on the python’s back. Their appearance often allows them to blend in well with their surroundings in the wild.

The Asiatic python lives throughout Southeast Asia. There may be three subspecies with distinct geographical boundaries, but the scientific community does not formally recognize this idea. Pythons are most commonly found in rainforests, woodlands, grasslands, and bodies of water, since their swimming skills are superb. They have even been known to swim out to remote islands. Their diet consists mainly of mammals and birds.

This is an increasingly popular species to have in captivity, due to their striking appearance and good behavior, but this species can be unpredictable. There are documented instances of Asiatic pythons eating or otherwise killing people. Exact length measurements are very hard to take on a fairly aggressive snake, so only figures on dead or anesthetized Asiatic pythons are really considered accurate. While many captive pythons are obese, ones in the wild tend to be lighter, and they may be more fairly described as erratic rather than genuinely dangerous.

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 http://animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Johnson’s Natural History. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.