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The animal on the cover of iPhone Open Application Development, Second Edition, is a pardine lynx, an animal more commonly known today as the Iberian or Spanish lynx (Lynx pardinus). Once thought of as a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, the pardine lynx is now classified as a separate species.

In contrast to the pale Eurasian lynx, the pardine lynx has bold, leopard-like spots that stand out against its grayish or golden coat. Its face is more cat-like as well, and its look is distinguished by a short bobtail with a black tip and a small cluster of black hair atop each of its ears.

The lynx relies upon the hair at its ears to amplify sound when hunting. Its favorite prey is the rabbit, although as the number of rabbits in Europe has declined, the lynx has resorted to hunting deer, birds, and rodents. Patience is a virtue of the lynx; the animal will often wait several hours behind a rock for its prey to come close enough to pounce upon.

At one time, the pardine lynx lived all along the Iberian Peninsula, but because of recent deforestation and aggressive human hunters, it now lives and breeds in just two small areas of Andalusia. It is thought by many to be the most endangered feline species in the world. If the pardine lynx were to become extinct, it would be the first wild cat to be so in more than 2,000 years.

The cover image is from Lydekker’s Royal History. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; ...

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