NASA-funded project went unexpectedly wrong after a dolphin seemed to fall in love with trainer
Humans love dolphins, as these fellow mammals have a reputation for being friendly. Safe to say, the affection is more often not reciprocated by dolphins. However, NOAA reports that interactions with people tend to alter dolphin behavior for the worse as they lose their instinctual wariness and become easy shark targets. But something out of the ordinary unfolded in a "Dolphinarium" built by a neuroscientist, John Lilly back in the 1960s. A dolphin seemed to fall in love with a human, a trainer working at the research laboratory funded by NASA and the U.S. Navy, per The Guardian.
Margaret Howe Lovatt had no scientific backing but her affinity for dolphins landed her among scientists and researchers in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. A research laboratory was set up on the island to conduct studies backed by government-funded organizations with the aim of speaking to extraterrestrial life forms. Lovatt, a self-proclaimed naturalist, made an effort to be a part of the research after learning that the scientists had a lab full of dolphins. She moved to the island and persuaded the director of the laboratory, Gregory Bateson, to be part of the research.
Impressed, Bateson allowed her to join the laboratory and made acquaintance with Lilly, the brains behind the experiment with dolphins. He built a Dolphinarium to test-run the research on obtaining communication patterns. As a result, Lovatt became a trainer deeply involved with three dolphins– two females, Sissy and Pamela, and one young male bottlenose dolphin named Peter. Drawing from the fact that dolphins can mimic human voices, Lovatt made it her mission to get something out of Peter. Might we add, she got more than what she bargained for.
Lovatt began living with the dolphins and spoke in English so that Peter could pick up her words to mimic. The experiment, although seemed to be going well, had a tragic ending following Peter’s pubescence. The dolphin was about the age and developed “sexual urges” and the scientists figured Peter was to spend more time with the females for his natural development. However, Lovatt was not convinced as it would mean her and Peter’s time together would be cut short. Therefore, she decided to contribute to the dolphin’s adolescent urges. As strange as it may sound, the trainer revealed she wasn’t uncomfortable with his sexual acts and viewed it as a part of the experiment.
“He would rub himself on my knee, or my foot, or my hand. And at first, I would put him downstairs with the girls,” Lovatt explained, adding, “I wasn’t uncomfortable with it, as long as it wasn’t rough. It would just become part of what was going on, like an itch – just get rid of it, scratch it, and move on.” She further confirmed that the process worked out and was observed by people. She attested that she and Peter grew closer and their bond strengthened not because of the strange scenario, but because they did not have to separate anymore. “And that’s really all it was. I was there to get to know Peter. That was part of Peter,” she reasoned.
Unfortunately, the bizarre experiment saw its end after Hustler Magazine covered Lovatt and Peter, the dolphin’s story with a critical narrative. It reached the masses and ultimately shut down the laboratory and funds dropped due to a lack of results in communication experiments. The controversy blew up with the experiment frowned upon by people, which further inspired the documentary, The Girl Who Talked To Dolphins.