Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

The animal on the cover of Cisco IOS Cookbook, Second Edition is a black jaguar (Panthera onca), sometimes called a black panther. While the color of black (melanastic) jaguars differs from that of the more common golden-yellow variety, they are of the same species. Jaguars of all types are native to the tropics, swamps, and grasslands of Central and South America (and rumored to still exist in parts of the Southwestern U.S.), but the black jaguar is usually found only in dense forests. They are between 4 and 6 feet long and have a long tail that is usually about 30 inches long. Males can weigh up to 250 pounds, while females are considerably smaller and rarely grow to more than 150 pounds. Although black jaguars often appear to be solid black in artistic renditions and photography, their coats still have the dark rings containing even darker spots that are a distinguishing feature of all jaguars. Also notable are their eyes, which are a shiny, reflective yellow.

Jaguars will eat almost any animal, including sloths, pigs, deer, monkeys, and cattle. Their hooked claws allow them to catch fish, frogs, turtles, and even small alligators. Although jaguars sit at the top of the rain forest food chain, humans are a large threat-it's estimated that only 15,000 jaguars are left in the wild, and the species is listed as near threatened. They are hunted for their coats (the black coat is greatly prized), and deforestation threatens their survival.

The black jaguar plays a large role in many South American religions and is often considered a wise and divine animal that is associated with the worlds of magic and spirit. The Aztecs believed that the jaguar was the earthbound representative of their deity, and both the Mayans and Toltecs believed that their sun god became a black jaguar at night in order to pass unseen through the underworld.

The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is LucasFont's TheSans Mono Condensed.

About the Authors

Kevin Dooley is Director of Enterprise Networking at CNG Solutions. He has been designing and implementing networks for longer than he'd like to admit. In that time, he has built large-scale local and wide area networks for several of Canada's largest companies. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Toronto, numerous Cisco certifications, and is the author of Designing Large-Scale LANs (O'Reilly).

Ian J. Brown, CCIE #3372, is a managing consultant at Bell Nexxia in Toronto with more than 12 years of experience in the networking indusstry. His areas of expertise include TCP/IP and IP routing, as well as management, security, design, and troubleshooting for large-scale networks. He has had the privilege of working on some of Canada's largest and most complex networks. In his spare time, Ian enjoys scuba diving, working out, and traveling.