#margaret howe lovatt

Love in the Dolphinarium

Inspired by her favourite childhood book, Miss Kelly, about a cat that can talk to humans, Margaret Howe Lovatt, who had no prior scientific experience, jumped at the chance to be a part of a NASA funded experiment aimed at teaching dolphins human language in preparation for if humankind encountered alien life forms during space exploration.

The three dolphins (Sissy, Pamela, and Peter) were housed in a purpose built dolphinarium where Howe Lovatt would eventually end up living. Her approach to teaching the dolphins human language was to spend as much time as possible with them whilst making human sounds, like a mother might do with a human child. She tried to coax Peter to say “Hello Margaret” and reported that the “m” in particular was difficult for him to do without making bubbles in the water.

After five weeks of Howe Lovatt and Peter spending twenty-four hours a day together, the dolphin began exhibiting sexual urges towards her. Initially when this happened he was taken into a separate pool with the female dolphins so that his needs might be satisfied, but this was a time consuming and logistically difficult task which Howe Lovatt felt interfered with the research they were trying to do.

As a result, “Lovatt took it upon herself to relieve Peter of his urges, rather than going through the long and inconvenient process of transporting him, "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.”” Howe Lovatt has always been adamant that the affection was entirely on Peter’s part, not hers, but if that wasn’t the case, she wouldn’t be alone; ‘delphinophiles’ are certainly a real thing and there are numerous examples of people having relationships with dolphins or otherwise finding them attractive.

Ultimately, the project lost it’s funding due to lack of progress and Peter was moved to an unsuitable tank in Miami where the conditions caused him to ‘commit suicide’ by drowning. Howe Lovatt went on to marry a human and have three children.