It's hard getting your head around this one but you can blame science for this bizarre episode.

Margaret Howe Lovatt, a researcher who worked for NASA in the 1960s, said she had sex on many occasions with a male dolphin during an experiment that sought to teach dolphins how to communicate with humans.

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Her dolphin lover was named Peter. She told the BBC, which made a documentary of her "adventure," that Peter took a liking to her and "would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that."

Some studies have found evidence that male dolphins are drawn to women because they give off similar pheromones to female dolphins. Sexual acts between dolphins and humans are not that rare, however.

Lovatt was stationed on the U.S. Virgin Islands as part of a team from NASA conducting an experiment to teach the intelligent mammals how to communicate with humans.

She described Peter as a sexually maturing adolescent held captive in a dolphinarium that allowed Lovatt and other researchers to study the dolphins at close range. She didn't mind the "affection" Peter was showing her, she said.

"I wasn't uncomfortable--as long as it wasn't too rough," she said. "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 said their sex play became a regular part of her studies. Her colleagues were scandalized when they discovered her relationship with the animal.

Lovatt is the subject of a documentary, "The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins," which will be broadcast by the BBC on BBC4 on June 17.

TagsSex with Dolphin, The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins, Dolphin Researcher