by Tutu Akinlabi

A woman in the United States claims she had sex with a male dolphin while carrying out research in the 1960s.

Margaret Howe Lovatt participated in a NASA experiment aimed at teaching intelligent mammals how to communicate.

She was stationed on the U.S. Virgin Islands and has opened up about the research in a soon to be released documentary.

NY Daily reports:

She revealed in an upcoming BBC documentary that it was in 1963 when a house was flooded to turn it into a dolphinarium, allowing researchers to study the animals at close quarters, according to the Daily Mirror.

One of them, nicknamed Peter, was a sexually maturing adolescent. “Peter liked to be … with me. He would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that,” she said.

“I wasn’t uncomfortable — as long as it wasn’t too rough. It was just 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.”

Lovatt claims the sex play became a regular part of her studies, adding, “It would just become part of what was going on, like an itch, just get rid of that scratch and we would be done and move on.”

The nature of their relationship caused a scandal and rumors grew about experiments of dolphins suffering drug abuse with LSD tests.

Lovatt is the subject of a documentary titled ‘The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins.’ The BBC documentary “The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins” will be shown on BBC4 on Tuesday, June 17.

Sexual acts between dolphins and humans have a history.

American author Malcolm Brenner wrote a book called “Wet Goddess” based on his nine-month sexual relationship with a dolphin at Floridaland amusement park in the 1970.

Research by Dr. Mark Griffiths, of Nottingham Trent University, found there are a small number of “delphinophiles” — humans sexually attracted to dolphins. Some studies have also found evidence that male dolphins are drawn to women because they give off similar pheromones to female dolphins.

Watch video below:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=31AWe-FN7CA?feature=player_embedded]