The paucity of prior research prompted Brennan and colleagues to examine the organ and look under the hood - including under the wrinkled clitoral hood - an area of enlarged erectile tissue near the vaginal entrance where contact and penile stimulation during copulation is likely.Įxcising the clitorises from dolphin specimens that died of natural causes, Brennan’s team found that the dolphin clitoral body is supplied by abundant large nerves at the skin surface. The first rigorous study of clitoral anatomy in humans wasn’t published until 1998.ĭuring Brennan’s recent research on dolphin vaginal anatomy, the large size of the common bottlenose dolphin clitoris aroused her curiosity ( SN: 12/15/17). Like female reproductive anatomy generally, the clitoris - in many species, not just dolphins - is poorly studied in contrast to male genitalia. Females also masturbate by rubbing their clitoris against objects on the sea bottom. “What that looks like is females stimulating each other’s clitoris,” with snouts, flippers or flukes, Brennan says. Heterosexual and homosexual sex is common in wild dolphins, including female-female sex. The findings suggest that the bottlenose dolphin clitoris likely provides pleasure during sex, which adds up since dolphins have sex all the time, says Patricia Brennan, an evolutionary biologist at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass. Abundant sensory nerves and spongy tissues in the genitalia of our female flippered friends suggest the dolphin clitoris may be highly sensitive to physical contact, researchers report January 10 in Current Biology. One reason may be that the prominent female dolphin clitoris provides sexual pleasure.Ī new up-close look at clitoral tissue from common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus) reveals many similarities to the human clitoris. They then waited until the water park had closed for the day and her male companion had been put away before getting it on.Dolphins have active sex lives, with frequent dalliances not just for reproduction. He told how the female mammal 'came on' to him while he was in the pool with her. Malcolm Brenner, 63, had a six-month sexual relationship with 'Dolly' the dolphin at an amusement park in Florida in 1971. Surprisingly it's not the first time a human has forged a sexual relationship with a dolphin. Margaret said: “I’ve had a good bunch of letters from people asking if they could interview me, but I’ve not done any of it."Ī new BBC documentary The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins will be screened at the Sheffield Documentary Festival on Wednesday, June 11, before making its way to BBC4 on Tuesday, June 17. The experiment would end in tragedy, and for years after there would be rumours of the dolphins suffering drug abuse with LSD tests and scandal over the nature of Margaret’s relationship with Peter. "I was there to get to know Peter, that was part of Peter."īut what started with Sixties idealism would spiral into the darkness of the decade. "It would just become part of what was going on like an itch, just get rid of that we'll scratch and we would be done and move on. She added: "It was sexual on his part - it was not sexual on mine, sensuous perhaps. Margaret claims this became a regular part of her studies, as she tried to teach Peter to speak English. "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." In the beginning I would put him on the elevator and say you go play with the girls for a day. "I wasn't uncomfortable - as long as it wasn't too rough. He would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that. It was there she met Peter, an adolescent dolphin she described as 'sexually coming of age'.Īs the two bonded, their relationship soon progressed to a more physical level. In 1963 she helped turn a house into a domestic dolphinarium by flooding it with knee-deep water, where researchers could study the animals from their home. A woman who had sex with a dolphin as part of a scientific study has spoken out for the first time.ĭuring the swinging 60s, animal researcher Margaret Howe Lovatt was part of a Nasa-funded experiment on the US Virgin Islands to teach the intelligent sea creatures how to speak English.
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