This is the adorable moment a wild dolphin swims over to watch a young girl standing on a beach.

Tren Smithfield and her family were visiting Monkey Mia, Australia, on February 23 when an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin appeared in the shallows in front of her daughter Sunny.

Cute footage – which has been viewed 1.2million times – the inquisitive animal immediately stopped swimming to look directly at the seven-year-old.

As Tren watched on the dolphin shared a special moment with Sunny as they both stared into each other’s eyes for more than 20 seconds.

Tren said: “We were all blown away by the encounter. Sunny was completely awe-struck by the experience.

“There are three wild dolphins who are fed by national park rangers there, and many dolphins frequent the area.

“As the pod was swimming by, one of them seemed to catch sight of my daughter Sunny who was standing watching on in awe in the shallows on the shore.

“The dolphin then circled back and simply just stared at her for almost twenty seconds. In the moment it felt like it was even longer.

“I am not sure why this dolphin was interested in Sunny. The dolphins would be familiar with humans but obviously Sunny just seemed to be of particular interest to this one.

“Sunny of course wished she could have got into the water with the dolphin, however, we had been instructed that if they swim past, you are not to enter the water and definitely not allowed to touch them.

“She is deeply in love with these creatures and as much as she desperately wanted to go in to meet them, she was able to restrain herself and respect them in their natural habitat and simply enjoyed holding the space.

“Sunny has always been drawn to nature and all creatures within. She has a great deal of empathy, but also a great deal of concern for our planet.

“We feel that moments like these will have a lasting impact on Sunny and our son Teddy and we are so excited to watch her grow and find her path in life.”