Margaret Howe Lovatt, a woman who has always been in love with animals since she was a kid. She confessed to having an unusual sexual relationship with a dolphin. 

She remembers her mom giving her a book about a talking cat when she was little. It sparked her lifelong interest in animal talk. "It was a story about a talking cat. It could understand humans. It stuck with me that this is possible," Margaret said. 

Unlike most kids, Margaret never outgrew her dream of communicating with animals. Her dream came true in 1963, during Christmas on the Caribbean Island of St. Thomas. Margaret’s brother-in-law told her about a secret lab on the island. They were working with dolphins. At 20 years old, Margaret couldn’t resist checking it out. 

There, she met Gregory Bateson, the lab director. Her passion and determination to help impressed him. The gentleman allowed Margaret to study the dolphins and record her observations. Despite lacking formal scientific education, Margaret had a knack for spotting animal behavior. This skill secured her spot in the research project. She still clearly recalls her first impression of the three dolphins she observed. 

In her words, “Peter, Pamela and Sissy. Sissy was the biggest. Pushy, loud, she sort of ran the show.” And “Pamela was very shy and fearful. And Peter was a young guy. He was sexually coming of age and a bit naughty.”

Margaret met three dolphins who lived in a sea pool under a laboratory. She watched them every day. It was part of a NASA-funded project. The project wanted to teach them English or find out if they could learn it. The scientists wanted to get closer to the dolphins and see how they lived. They had a strange idea. They turned a normal house into a dolphin home by filling it with water up to their knees. This way, they could stay with the dolphins and study them all the time. Margaret felt a strong connection with the dolphins. She felt it especially with Peter, a young male. 

She said, “Peter liked to be… with me. He would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that.” She also said, “I wasn’t uncomfortable — as long as it wasn’t too rough. In the beginning, I would put him on the elevator and say, ‘You go play with the girls for a day.’”

She added, “It was easier to incorporate that and let it happen. It was very precious and very gentle. Peter was right there. He knew that I was right there.”” She claimed that this was part of her research to teach Peter English. She explained, "It was sexual on his part - it was not sexual on mine, sensuous perhaps. "It would become part of what was going on like an itch, get rid of that we’ll scratch, and we would be done and move on." I was there to get to know Peter, that was part of Peter.” 

The project ran out of money and Peter had to move to a lab in Florida, 1,000 miles away. He died soon after. Some people said he died because he missed Margaret too much. Margaret remembered the phone call from John Lilly, the scientist who set up the lab. He told her Peter had killed himself. The vet, Andy Williamson, thought Peter died of a broken heart. 

He wondered if Peter missed Margaret too much when she left. Ric O’Barry, from The Dolphin Project, agreed that Peter’s death was a “suicide.” He said, “Dolphins are not automatic air-breathers like we are. Every breath is a conscious effort.” He continued, “If life becomes too unbearable, the dolphins take a breath, and they sink to the bottom. 

They don’t take the next breath.” John Lilly was an American scientist who studied sea creatures with big brains. He tried to teach dolphins to make sounds like humans through their blow holes. 

He hoped this would help them communicate with us. He got money from NASA for his experiment. He thought it could help us understand other intelligent beings who talk differently. But things went wrong. Margaret had an unusual relationship with Peter. Rumors circulated that someone gave LSD to the dolphins.