An animal researcher has come forward, claiming she had sex with a male dolphin during lab experiments for NASA in the 1960s.

Margaret Howe Lovatt told the Daily Mirror she was involved in an experiment designed to teach intelligent sea creatures, like dolphins, how to speak English.

Lovatt said that one particular dolphin, named Peter, took a liking to her in 1963.

“Peter liked to be… with me. He would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that,” she said.

Lovatt said that Peter was “sexually coming of age” and that she didn’t mind the behavior. “I wasn’t uncomfortable – as long as it wasn’t too rough. In the beginning I would put him on the elevator and say you go play with the girls for a day.”

The relationship was sexual on Peter’s part, Lovatt said, but “sensuous” for her. “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.”

Lovatt described the sex between her and Peter as very “precious and gentle.” She said the encounters would help Peter focus on his lessons.

The “affair” ended in scandal for the pair, with rumors that dolphins were abusing LSD.

Lovatt will tell her story in a new documentary, “The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins,” which premiers on BBC June 17.