In defence of the woman who "had sex" with a dolphin.

So there’s a chance you may have seen some outrageous headlines recently regarding a woman who had a sexual relationship with a Dolphin.

Examples include “Woman reveals she had sex with a dolphin,” and “Woman had sex with a dolphin…and she liked it.” (And no, that’s not some weird sequel to Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” song).

If you were anything like us, you may have had a few reactions.  Anything from the absolute shock “Wait, she did what? EW!” to the mild questioning of the logistics “But HOW?!” Or simply, you may have just looked a little like this:

There’s facts and fictions about this story, and when you take away the spin it looks like this.

Fact: The woman in question, Margaret Howe, did form a close bond with the Dolphin (also known as Peter).

Fiction: Margaret and Peter did not have sex. As the use of sex generally implies penetration or intercourse, such a thing did not happen. 

The story of Margaret and Peter started in 1965 and is coming to light now after Howe told her story for the BBC documentary The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins.

In 1965, Howe was supposed to spend 10 weeks teaching Peter how to speak English words as part of a NASA experiment. As part of the experiment, Howe has to spend copious amounts of time with Peter – swimming, playing, eating and sleeping.

About four weeks into the experiment, Howe wrote in her diary: “Peter has become sexually aroused several times during the week.”She also noted that she found his desires a hinderance to their relationship and what she was trying to teach him.

The facts not to ignore here are this: According to biologists, a dolphins intelligence is shockingly similar to humans. In addition to intelligence and social habits, dolphins are one of the few mammals who enjoy sex for pleasure purposes as well as reproduction ones.

It’s also a scientific fact that dolphins masturbate – they rub their genitals against the ground or other surfaces to stimulate themselves.

During this training time, in dolphin years, Peter was a sexually maturing adolescent and was therefore easily excited.

Margaret described how she would fondle Peter to keep him focused during their lessons, because otherwise he would not pay attention. Some studies have found evidence that male dolphins are drawn to women because they give off similar pheromones to female dolphins.

Howe told the documentary makers:

“Peter liked to be with me. He would rub himself on my foot or my hand. And I allowed that, I wasn’t uncomfortable with that as long as it wasn’t too rough.”

“It was just easier to incorporate it and let it happen. It was very precious. It was very gentle…Again it was sexual on his part, it was not sexual on mine. Sensuous perhaps. It would just become part of what was going on, like an itch. Just get rid of that. Scratch it and we’ll be done. Move on. And that’s really all it was. I was there to get to know Peter. That was part of Peter.”

Sadly, after the 10 week experiment, Howe and Peter went their separate ways. And a few weeks later, Howe received news that Peter had reportedly committed suicide by not breathing.

One vet said that Peter’s death was probably caused by a broken heart.

As the UK press wrote: “Dophins may not speak English – but, just like humans, they know all about broken hearts.”