Palm Desert Boy Names Jaguar For Hunting Abilities

Brody Trent loves science.

When the Living Desert put out a call for its naming contest for its newest edition -- a 15-month-old jaguar -- the 6-year-old Palm Desert resident came up with an idea.

"I kept bugging mom that magic would work and she came up with the Spanish word for Magia,'' Brody said just after the unveiling of Magia's exhibit about 11:30 a.m. Friday, April 1.

He said that he thinks Magia the jaguar is "pretty."

"The powerful jaws of it could crush bones with its jaws,'' Brody said.

In his submission, the James Earl Carter Elementary School first grader wrote: "We should call her magic because she can disappear into the trees and when she sees her prey she pounces from out of no where. She magically appears."

That entry beat out other submission from kids under the age of 12 from across the Coachella Valley.

This is Magia's first week in Palm Desert, coming all the way from a zoo in Texas.

"She has refused to come off the exhibit the last couple of days,'' said Liz Hile, curator of animals at the . She said the jaguar seems to be adapting well to her new home.

The jaguar has a history in the Coachella Valley with sightings dating back to the Cahuilla Indians, according to Stacey Johnson, CEO of the Living Desert.