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The animal on the cover of MongoDB: The Definitive Guide, Second Edition is a mongoose lemur, a member of a highly diverse group of primates endemic to Madagascar. Ancestral lemurs are believed to have inadvertently traveled to Madagascar from Africa (a trip of at least 350 miles) by raft some 65 million years ago. Freed from competition with other African species (such as monkeys and squirrels), lemurs adapted to fill a wide variety of ecological niches, branching into the almost 100 species known today. These animals’ otherworldly calls, nocturnal activity, and glowing eyes earned them their name, which comes from the lemures (specters) of Roman myth. Malagasy culture also associates lemurs with the supernatural, variously considering them the souls of ancestors, the source of taboo, or spirits bent on revenge. Some villages identify a particular species of lemur as the ancestor of their group.
Mongoose lemurs (Eulemur mongoz) are medium-sized lemurs, about 12 to 18 inches long and 3 to 4 pounds. The bushy tail adds an additional 16 to 25 inches. Females and young lemurs have white beards, while males have red beards and cheeks. Mongoose lemurs eat fruit and flowers and they act as pollinators for some plants; they are particularly fond of the nectar of the kapok tree. They may also eat leaves and insects.
Mongoose lemurs inhabit the dry forests of northwestern Madagascar. One of the two species of lemur found outside of Madagascar, they also live in the Comoros Islands (where they are believed to have been introduced by humans). They have the unusual quality of being cathemeral (alternately wakeful during the day and at night), changing their activity patterns to suit the wet and dry seasons. Mongoose lemurs are threatened by habitat loss and they are classified as a vulnerable species.
The cover image is from Lydekker’s Royal 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.