THE DOLPHINS of MONKEY MIA WA

Monkey Mia Reserve, 28 kms from Denham is famous for the Wild Bottlenose Dolphins that visit the beach almost every day up to three times from around 7.45 to noon for a morning snack of fish. Three generations of Dolphins have visited since the early 1960s. Feeding is done by Parks and Wildlife personnel who monitor the Dolphin's health and ensure that they are not overfed in order that they retain their hunting and survival skills. Unrestricted feeding by the public was in the past permitted but it was found that some of the females were neglecting their young by not teaching them to hunt and otherwise neglecting them. These days, the same pod visits the beach each day when numbers range from a few to many. Most of the regulars have been named by the Rangers and only a select few are fed. The public has the opportunity to wade with these beautiful animals when they come into inches of water to great their visitors. As I come from Nelson Bay in NSW where sightings of Dolphins are common, I at first was not really excited about this show but must say that being able to get up close to these wild animals and to be greeted with their permanent smile was a wonderful experience.

 Finally, you may be wondering where the name Monkey Mia came from. The following suggestions extracted from Wikipedia gives a good explanation:

 "Mia is the Aboriginal term for home or shelter, while the Monkey part of the name is allegedly derived from a pearling boat called Monkey that anchored at the now Monkey Mia in the late 19th century, during the days when pearling was an industry in the region. However, the Geographic Names Committee, hosted by Landgate (The Western Australian Land Information Authority) has stated that the most likely origins of the name are that it was included in a list of Aboriginal names and their meanings supplied by the Geraldton Police Station in approx 1899 - the meaning of the name is given as "Salt or bad water", or after the pet monkeys owned by early Malay pearlers who camped at the location, or as a colloquialism for "sheep", or that it was named for a schooner called Monkey that arrived in 1834."

(Click on a photo to enlarge)