A dolphin trainer found herself in an unusual situation when her aquatic trainee developed romantic feelings towards her during their lessons, leading her to help the animal when it became aroused.
This is certainly an unexpected story.
The intriguing scenario involved Margaret Howe Lovatt, who collaborated with John Lilly, an American neuroscientist who had established a lab backed by NASA. His aim was to foster better relationships between humans and dolphins.
Lovatt spent three months living with a dolphin named Peter, aiming to fulfill one of Lilly’s ambitions: teaching dolphins to speak English.
As reported by The Guardian, Lovatt explained her choice: “I chose to work with Peter because he had not had any human-like sound training and the other two had.”
Although the research was scientific, complications arose when Lovatt noticed that Peter was highly interested in her anatomy.
Andy Williamson, responsible for the animals’ health, mentioned that dolphins experience ‘sexual urges’. Initially, Lovatt attempted to address this by reintroducing Peter to two other female dolphins at the facility.
However, the disruption of frequently moving Peter became too great, prompting Lovatt to take a direct approach to the situation.
Lovatt started relieving Peter manually.
In a BBC documentary, she explained: “It was just easier to incorporate that and let it happen. It was very precious, it was very gentle. Peter was right there, he knew that I was right there.”
Lovatt clarified that while the act might have appeared ‘sexual’ for Peter, it was not the same for her.
She added: “Sensuous, perhaps.”
“It would just become part of what was going on, like an itch – just get rid of it, scratch it and move on. And that’s really all it was,” she said. “I was there to get to know Peter. That was part of Peter.”
While Lovatt remained dedicated to her research, she admitted the interactions with Peter began to overshadow the experiment, especially after a story about their relationship appeared in Hustler magazine.
“It’s a bit uncomfortable,” she reflected. “The worst experiment in the world, I’ve read somewhere, was me and Peter. That’s fine, I don’t mind. But that was not the point of it, nor the result of it. So I just ignore it.”