Social eCommerce

Colophon

The animal on the cover of Social eCommerce is a greater adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius), member of the stork family (Ciconiidae). The name adjutant comes from their stiff military gait when walking.

The greater adjutant is huge—57 to 60 inches in height. With an average wingspan of 99 inches, these are the largest of living storks. They have a massive wedge-shaped bill, which averages about 12.7 inches in length, bare head, and distinctive neck pouch.

The adjutant feeds mostly on carrion and offal, sometimes feeding on vertebrates when the opportunity presents itself. They used to be found in large numbers in Asia, but numbers have been declining to the point of being endangered. This is thought to be due to improved sanitation. Drained wetlands, pollution, and disturbance has led to loss of adjutant nesting and feeding habitat. This, paired with hunting and egg collection, has caused massive declines in population. In 2008, the population was estimated at less than 1,000. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species lists the greater adjutant as endangered.

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 animals.oreilly.com.

The cover image is from Cassell’s Natural History. The cover fonts are URW Typewriter 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.