The animal on the cover of Terraform: Up and Running is the flying dragon lizard (Draco volans), a small reptile so named for its ability to glide using winglike flaps of skin known as patagia. The patagia are brightly colored and allow the animal to glide for up to eight meters. The flying dragon lizard is commonly found in many Southeast Asian countries, including Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and Singapore.
Flying dragon lizards feed on insects and can grow to more than 20 centimeters in length. They live primarily in forested regions, gliding from tree to tree to find prey and avoid predators. Females descend from the trees only to lay their eggs in hidden holes in the ground. The males are highly territorial and will chase rivals from tree to tree.
Although once thought to be poisonous, the flying dragon lizard is of no danger to humans and are sometimes kept as pets. They are not currently threatened or 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 Johnson’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.