Dolphin Politics in Shark Bay: A Journey of Discovery

From Dolphin Politics in Shark Bay: A journey of Discovery

Shark Bay is an exceptional place: a marine habitat with no peer, bursting with a phenomenal mélange of fish, sharks, turtles, sea-snakes, dugongs (like manatees) and dolphins and even a few humpback and right whales. An extraordinary stew of tropical and temperate animals and plants reflect Shark Bay’s position on the border of the temperate and tropical zones, some 500 miles north of Perth. It’s a large bay, roughly 50 miles across, 90 miles long and bisected by the Peron Peninsula. The semi-arid bushland, pocked with salt pans, yields to striking red-orange and sulphur-yellow bluffs that look out over an abstract canvas of blue and green created by shallow seagrass beds and deeper channels and embayments. Those seagrass beds are the key to everything; they are the foundation that supports the abundance of life in the bay and, as we will see later, the reason the Shark Bay dolphin society is so exquisitely complex compared to other shore-hugging populations of bottlenose dolphins around the globe. 

You can visit the Shark Bay and the world famous dolphins of Monkey Mia. There is a variety of accommodation at Monkey Mia and in the town of Denham, 25 kilometers across Peron Peninsula. Wake up at Monkey Mia, stroll down to the beach and watch wild dolphins pursue fish in mere inches of water,  socialize and play with each other, and watch the mums nurse their infants. 

Visit Shark Bay and Monkey Mia

Information and reservations at the RAC Monkey Mia Dolphin Resort

Watch wild dolphin behavior by the beach at Monkey Mia