NASA-funded experiment went horrifically wrong after dolphin ended up 'having sexual urges' towards its trainer
An experiment funded by NASA in the 1960s resulted in a dolphin becoming sexually attracted to its trainer.
No, you did not read that wrong, and yes, it is a true story.
Love stories often start in a cute, quaint little setting, but this started at the Dolphin Point laboratory on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas in the 1960s.
A 23-year-old Margaret Howe Lovatt volunteered for a NASA-funded project at the premises that aimed to teach dolphins how to communicate with humans.
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She didn't have any scientific training when it came to dealing with the marine mammals, but made some insightful observations about them, impressing lab director Gregory Bateson, who allowed her to come by when she pleased.
The lab was founded by Dr. John Lilly, a neuroscientist who proposed a theory in a quasi-sci-fi book in 1961 which claimed that dolphins wanted to communicate with humans.
In the lab, dolphins and humans lived in close proximity to allow this, as Lovatt recalled she was 'curious' in an interview with The Guardian in 2014.
She remembered that one of the three dolphins, named Peter, was 'a young guy' that was 'sexually coming of age and a bit naughty'.
As time went on, she focused solely on Peter and moved into the lab in 1965, where the pair would build a unique relationship while she taught him English, taking it to a level where some might feel uncomfortable.
In a BBC documentary titled The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins, Lovatt admitted that their connection reached the next level, as a specialist pointed out the dolphin's 'sexual urges'.
"Peter liked to be with me he would rub himself on my knee or my foot or my hand or whatever, and I allowed that - I wasn't uncomfortable with that as long as it wasn't too rough," she admitted.
While she used to send him to play with the female dolphins when he got 'rambunctious', she revealed it was 'easier' to deal with it it herself: "It was just easier to incorporate that and and let it happen."
She added in the documentary: "It was very precious, it was very gentle. Peter was right there, he knew that I was right there again - it was sexual on his part it was not sexual on mine, sensuous perhaps."
Lovatt compared it to 'an itch', as she would manually help him 'get rid of that scratch' so that they could move on with their learning.
"We'll be done, move on and that's really it. I was there to get to know Peter, that was part of Peter," she claimed.
A veterinarian then added in the documentary that he was curious about the dolphin, though he was pleased that Lovatt wasn't 'damaged' by his behaviour.
He explained: "I wondered about poor Peter, this dolphin was madly in love with her."
She would spend six of seven days in a week with the dolphin over the course of three months, as Lovatt kept notes of what she observed.
Speaking to The Guardian, she admitted: "If I was sitting here and my legs were in the water, he would come up and look at the back of my knee for a long time.
"He wanted to know how that thing worked and I was so charmed by it."
Unfortunately, these encounters would overshadow the entire experiment, culminating in an article being written in Hustler during the back-end of the 1970s.
The experiment ended altogether in 1966 after Professor Lilly started dosing himself and the dolphins with LSD after becoming interested in its effects.
Unfortunately, Peter never recovered from Lovatt leaving the lab, with Lilly telling Lovatt that Peter may have opened his blowhole underwater to kill himself.
However, she would go on to marry the photographer that worked with her on the project, going on to have four children and live at the same site as the laboratory, which was converted into a home.
Joshua Nair