XML Publishing with AxKit

Colophon

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 animals on the cover of XML Publishing with AxKit are tarpans (Equus caballus gmelini). Now extinct (the last known true tarpan died in captivity in 1876), the tarpan was the original, prehistoric European wild horse. Tarpans lived in southern France and in Spain and eastward toward central Russia, and they inhabited the ancient forests and wetlands of Poland until the 18th century. Peasants who captured and tamed these wild horses would crossbreed them with the local domestic horse. The tarpans that are around today are genetic recreations of the original wild breed, using several European pony breeds that were descendants of the prehistoric tarpan. The tarpan’s body is smoky gray in color, with a darker face and legs. Though it is considered a small horse, it has a large head, massive jaws, and a thick neck.

Tarpans became extinct because of the destruction of the forest, their natural habitat, to make room for villages, cities, and agriculture for the growing European human population. There are about 50 tarpans in North America today and possibly only 100 in the world. Most of the tarpans are in the United States and are owned by private individuals. They are friendly, curious, and affectionate and have a very calm disposition, ...