Dolphin interaction - Monkey Mia

26th June 2014

Another big experience today which I had been looking forward to for a long time.

The distance between Denham and Monkey Mia is 29kms so we set off early as I had been advised the most likely time to see dolphins is early in the morning.  There was rain last night and it continued to shower on and off all morning, however this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd who turned out to see the dolphins for the first 'ínteraction'of the day.

A nervous young fellow at the 1st session

The dolphins [all of whom are female, some with juveniles] have been visiting the bay and interacting with humans since the 1960's.  However it is only in the last 20 years that it has been understood how damaging this can be for wild animals, particularly the suckling young.  Now very strict controls are in place governing which individual dolphins are given fish, how much, and how long the interaction takes place.  The dolphins may visit up to 3 times between 8:00 and 12:00 noon.  If they visit in the afternoon they are ignored to prevent them becoming dependent on handouts.  An adult female eats about 15kgs of fish a day, but only about 500g of this is provided by the marine conservationists studying them.

Nicky

There is core visiting group of about 5 females with their calves and as this is a behaviour they teach to their young, some of them are the daughters of others.  Up to 3 generations are present.  The oldest dolphin currently visiting is Nicky, so named because of the nick in her dorsal fin.  She's 37 years old and dolphins are thought to live between 40 and 45 years if they manage to survive shark attack that long.

We attended the 1st and the 3rd visit and were very lucky as 11 dolphins turned up the first time and 9 the second.  I got to feed one of them but as I was the first person selected John did not have time to get the camera ready until after the dolphin had taken the fish!

Me just after giving the fish to the dolphin

Is anyone interested, as I was, how Monkey Mia got it's name?  The Asian pearl divers who operated in the area a hundred or so years ago were known as 'monkeys' and mia is the local indigenous word for hut.  So, divers huts.

Some other residents of the bay