Programming the Perl DBI

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The animal on the cover of Programming the Perl DBI is a cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), one of the oldest big cats, dating back four million years.

The cheetah is the fastest land animal in the world, reaching speeds up to 70 miles per hour, powered by its long legs and lean body. Its body is tan with black spots, and, at a distance, it’s hard to tell males from females. A cheetah grows to be approximately two and a half feet tall at the shoulder; it measures around four feet long, with a tail about two feet long. An adult weighs 90-130 pounds. The life span of the cheetah is about ten years.

A mother cheetah’s litter includes four to five cubs, who stay with their mother for a year and a half. The young learn hunting and survival skills in that time. The cheetah hunts by stalking and chasing its prey, which includes antelope, gazelles, rabbits, and game birds.

The cheetah is now considered to be an endangered species, with only 10,000-12,000 alive today, living almost exclusively in the grasslands of Africa. That number is much lower than the estimated 100,000 in 1900. In fact, it is extinct in more than twenty of the countries it originally inhabited. The cheetah suffers from loss of both habitat and food, plus poaching. Conservation ...