The 2014 BBC documentary, The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins, tells the story of the 1960s NASA-funded experiment that set out to teach dolphins to communicate with humans. Neuroscientist John Lilly, along with anthropologist Gregory Bateson, created the Communication Research Institute on St. Thomas in the British Virgin Islands in order to house three dolphins, Sissy, Pamela, and Peter with the hopes of teaching the dolphins English.
When Margaret Lovatt drove up to the Communication Research Institute, or what they called the Dolphin House in 1964, interested to see what it was all about, she had no idea the bond she would form with one of the dolphins living there. Lovatt told Gregory Bateson she was interested in dolphins, and after one afternoon of her observing the three marine mammals, she began to volunteer there. After a few months of remorse towards leaving the three dolphins there alone every night, she came up with a plan. She wanted to try an experiment where she would live with Peter 24 hours a day. They plastered all over the Dolphin House, which gave them more space to put water, and allowed an easier living situation for both Margaret and Peter.
Dolphin House (Photo: The Guardian)
In 1965, they lived in isolation together for six months, with Margaret giving Peter “English lessons” almost every day, trying to teach him to say certain words, numbers, or sounds. She spent every moment with him–even sleeping on a lofted foam mattress in the middle of one of the rooms. One day out of the week Peter would return to the sea pool downstairs and spend a day with Sissy and Pamela.
Margaret and Peter in her living area. (Photo: The Guardian)
In the article, “The Dolphin Who Loved Me”, Lovatt remembers, “When we had nothing to do was when we did the most. He was very, very interested in my anatomy. If I was sitting here and my legs were in the water, he would come up and look at the back of my knee for a long time. He wanted to know how that thing worked and I was so charmed by it.” This quote demonstrates how curious the mind of dolphins are in regards to humans.
Margaret and Peter swimming. (Photo: The Guardian)
While Lovatt’s experiment seemed like a great idea, and very interesting, there was one specific instance which brought negative attention to the study. Like humans, dolphins have sex. Since Peter was spending almost all of his time with Lovatt, and moving him downstairs with Sissy and Pamela so frequently proved difficult, his needs were not being met. Because Lovatt knew this, she would relieve Peter’s urges herself. Lovatt explains, “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” (“The Dolphin Who Loved Me”). Even though Margaret thought of it this way, when word got out that this was going on, HUSTLER magazine published a heinous article entitled, “Interspecies Sex: Humans and Dolphins”, which degraded both Lovatt and the experiment. She ignored the article, but her study was interrupted by something else.
During Lovatt’s time with Peter, John Lilly became obsessed with the drug LSD–even trying it out Sissy and Pamela to see if they would react to it. They didn’t. Lilly’s decision to experiment with the drug on the dolphins drove lab director Gregory Bateson away. Because of this, the lab’s funding was cut towards the end of Lovatt’s experiment. Because she could not keep Peter or the other dolphins, they had to be sent to Lilly’s other lab in Miami where the living situation was less than optimal. There, the dolphins were kept in room where they lived in very small tanks. It was very different than the Dolphin House, and there was something missing from Peter’s life: Margaret.
Due to his separation from her, in what I described in a previous post, Peter committed suicide. While Lovatt was upset, she was relieved he was no longer depressed and living in such horrible conditions.
Although she lived and raised a family at the Dolphin House for the next ten years, she never tried the experiment ever again. In fact, no one has attempted to teach a dolphin English since. Instead, the research has focused on the communication between the mammals.
Even though her experiment wasn’t a success, she has inspired people to work with dolphins through her amazing experience with Peter.
(Note: In my next post, I will discuss the negative opinions that came about after the public heard about the details of Lovatt’s experiment).
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