The ocelot is seldom seen in the Southwest anymore.
Few animals from the wild, spotted cat species still roam between the borderlands of northern Mexico and southern Arizona — but a group of tribal youth with ties to this endangered creature have bestowed one with an Indigenous name.
Cholla High School first-year Isaac Valencia was among nearly three dozen O’odham students part of the Voices of Our Youth program. They helped coin three options for the nomadic male ocelot, working with a tribal linguist.
Then, a couple hundred ballots were cast by locals to decide a fitting moniker through a recent online vote. Al Ha’icu Ga:gdam — meaning Little Seeker — and Little Dot, or Al Doṣ, were among their choices.
“When I came up with the name, I named it an O’odham,” said Valencia. “And Himdam means traveler, like he has [an] untold story.”
Ocelots are far more elusive than jaguars, and their range is much smaller. So this ocelot is somewhat of an outlier since Himdam was first spotted in the Atascosa Highlands by Phoenix Zoo researchers in 2024.
More sightings of the same feline soon followed.
Himdam was also detected in the Whetstone, Patagonia and Santa Rita mountain ranges by the Center for Biological Diversity, Sky Island Alliance and University of Arizona Wild Cat Research and Conservation Center respectively.
The Center for Biological Diversity shared insights about ocelots and their fragile habitat, the Sky Islands, with this group of students. From future copper mining to the Southern border wall, the U.S. endangered species is facing lots of threats.
Yet Valencia, 14, who is from the San Xavier District of the Tohono O’odham Nation, stresses Himdam’s survival is inspiring, saying “It makes me real proud… anything that could help my culture in our land.”
Because naming this rare cat means so much more.
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