Do Male Dolphins Find Women in Wetsuits Attractive?

Do male dolphins like Reggie really find women in wetsuits sexually attractive? After two incidents off Lyme Regis this week, marine experts answer the mind-boggling question

Reggie the bottlenose dolphin has had a rollercoaster ride of it lately. 

He first came to fame for dancing on his tail, offering up his soft white belly for a rub, performing mini back flips and generally having fun with Lynda MacDonald and her family during their early morning swim in Lyme Bay, Dorset.

When Lynda, 50, posted a video of their 'magical moment' in the water on August 3, it went viral.

Tourists from all over raced to Lyme Bay and into the sea, hoping for their own special connection with Reggie, 'the UK's friendliest dolphin'.

Some parents even took their children out on paddle boards and deposited them in the water to wait for playtime with Reggie, who could weigh as much as 400lb (180kg) and be 12ft long. 

The internet lit up with photos of his happy 'smiling' face and sleek body leaping through the water.

But now, nearly three weeks later, we're told Reggie is sporting nasty gashes down his flank, probably from a boat propeller. Plus that he's become a marauding attacker. That he's potentially dangerous. And, whisper it, perhaps an aqua sex pest, too.

Because Reggie is not dancing delicately on his tail any more. No. Now he's leaping on swimmers – particularly, it seems, women in wetsuits. Throwing himself on top of them. Pinning them down. And oh, dear me, some say, even rubbing himself against them in an alarmingly sensuous way.

Reggie the dolphin came to fame after footage of his performances in the water at Lyme Bay, Dorset, for Lynda McDonald and her family lit up the internet

The bottlenose dolphin approached the family shortly after they entered the water for their 6am swim and danced on his tail, offered up his soft white belly for a rub and performed mini backflips

Nearly three weeks later Reggie is sporting nasty gashes down his flank, likely from a boat propeller

Twice now, women have had to be rescued from his attention by kayaking brothers Rhys and Gareth Paterson.

On August 14, they spotted Reggie about 200 yards from the shore, jumping on a swimmer's back. 

'We thought he was doing what he normally does – just a bit of fun,' says Rhys.

But after hearing screams, they paddled over to find the dolphin repeatedly pushing the woman's head underwater.

'She was kind of gasping for air. She was terrified,' Rhys says.

After bringing that swimmer back to shore, they saw Reggie turn his attention to another woman hanging on to a yellow buoy and 'looking panicked' as he rubbed himself against her, so they raced back to get her.

'It kept jumping on them,' describes Rhys.

'The dolphin was basically drowning this woman – it kind of jumped on her back four times.'

Playful dolphin Reggie was seen dancing in the water earlier this month as he performed for an awestruck audience

Footage showed the playful mammal dancing and guiding people across the water with its nose

Thankfully, neither of the women were injured but they were extremely shocked.

So what on earth is going on? How could Reggie look so happy and smiley and share such a magical moment with the MacDonald family and then behave so badly?

And, dare we ask, can all those dark rumours about frisky dolphins be true – do some of them really find humans sexually attractive?

Well, first things first. Let's remember that Reggie is a wild animal, not a plaything or a tourist attraction. A supremely intelligent mammal with a sophisticated communication system and complex, fluid, social structure within his pod.

So the minute he started displaying unusual behaviour by interacting with humans and even playing, which is often a sign of acute stress, he should have been left well alone.

Which is why, for weeks now, increasingly exasperated dolphin experts have been offering the same advice: give him space, leave him alone, and don't go in the water with him. 

Instead of heeding this guidance, dolphin enthusiasts have flocked from all over in clear breach of the Wildlife And Countryside Act 1981, which specifies that approaching or recklessly disturbing a dolphin can result in up to six months in prison and an unlimited fine.

At one stage, horrified locals reported more than 20 laden paddle boards bobbing around Reggie, taking photos of his apparently smiling face. Which according to Calum Duncan, head of policy and advocacy at the Marine Conservation Society, is part of the problem.

Marine Management Organisation shared concerns for Reggie's safety and urged tourists to stay away from the animals in a recent Facebook post

'People think [dolphins] want to play and make friends and special connections, but they are not smiling – it is just the way their mouth are formed and not a sign of what they're thinking,' he says.

'They are huge predators with a lot of sharp teeth and can be incredibly aggressive to other species, particularly when anxious.'

And poor Reggie is clearly very anxious right now – and out of his comfort zone.

He's been adrift and alone since February, when he first popped up in the area. And he is still there, wallowing in the warm shallows in the peak of the

school summer holidays rather than his natural habitat much further out to sea with the rest of Britain's 700-strong bottlenose dolphin population.

He might have been separated from his pod by storms. Or he could be injured, ill, or just hungry. No one knows. But what is clear is that his behaviour is changing.

Or, as Danny Groves from the charity Whale and Dolphin Conservation explains: 'It is called habituation – the dolphin changing their behaviour to fit a human presence.

'He is being habituated by people who insist on interacting with him, a process that happens through a number of stages and levels.'

And the biggest worry is that Reggie will start to think of humans as part of his social network. Not his enemy. Which puts him in grave danger.

'Most dolphins that interact with humans do not live very long afterwards,' says Calum Duncan. Dolphins have always felt a bit special and are indeed much more like humans than we'd imagine. They have different personalities – bold, shy, feisty – and numerous partners, best friends, family members and acquaintances.

They also look after each other and, like us, experience a form of grief. If a mother loses a calf, she'll often stay with the dead body – with no food – for days or even weeks.

So perhaps it's no wonder we're ridiculously excited to see them when they venture close to shore.

But the question remains: are they really sexually attracted to women in wetsuits, or has it all just been a terrible misunderstanding?

It is a delicate query and Danny Groves will not be drawn.

'I think there would have to be far more expert analysis of footage before making that kind of conclusion,' he says.

But Dr Bruno Diaz Lopez, the director of the Bottlenose Dolphin Research Institute, is firm.

Reggie (as seen above in the earlier, wholesome footage) has now been accused of leaping on swimmers – particularly women in wetsuits

'Dolphins would never ever confuse a woman in a wetsuit with a dolphin,' he says, and goes on to explain that dolphins are 'very active sexually' and, like humans and unlike most other animals, have sex for enjoyment, fun and social interaction. Not just for the purpose of reproduction.

'So it is very common to see a dolphin with an erection,' he continues. 'Because they use the penis to touch each other, to socialise.

'It's a bit like when a dog interacts around the leg of a person.

'Hormones are driving them. They don't actually want to have sex with you, they want to make you part of their social structure – to hang on to you.'

Which is of course good to hear but, given the penis of a bottlenose dolphin can be a foot long and is prehensile – which means it can wrap around objects such as a wrist or an ankle – it is still rather alarming.

Of course, Reggie isn't the only dolphin to have become 'entangled' with humans – for fun and frolics and possibly a little bit more.

History shows they have form when it comes to friskiness – and it rarely ends well.

Back in August 2018, a single male called Zafar started popping up in the waves at Landevennec, Brittany.

Twice now, women have had to be rescued from Reggie (seen earlier this month playing with the MacDonald family) by kayaking brothers Rhys and Gareth Paterson

At first – just like with Reggie at Lyme Bay – everyone was thrilled and he became a regular fixture, leaping and frolicking in the water with bathers who'd rushed into the sea to join him.

But the more he interacted with humans, the more boisterous and sexually aroused Zafar became. While he mostly contented himself with rubbing up against bathers, he lifted one woman swimmer clean out of the water with his snout and blocked others from reaching the shore.

Eventually, things got so bad that the town's mayor banned all swimming while zesty Zafar remained in the water.

But he soon disappeared, and was presumed dead.

The aptly-named Randy was another lone male dolphin to become obsessed with both boats and bathers, this time in Weymouth, Dorset, in the summer of 2002.

Again, it started as a bit of fun and his antics quickly gained him worldwide celebrity status.

But, yet again like Reggie, his particular enthusiasm was women in rubber wetsuits and soon his ministrations got out of hand. Some women said they felt like they'd been sexually assaulted underwater – prompting safety fears and swimming bans.

But occasionally humans have been knowingly involved.

Reggie's initially playful antics in Lyme Bay saw bathers rush into the sea to join him for a moment of their own

Back in the 1960s, Margaret Howe Lovatt, a 23-year-old naturalist, adopted a rather intimate approach with a dolphin called Peter when studying communication between humans and dolphins as part of a Nasa-funded research project in the British Virgin Islands.

'He would rub himself on my knee, my foot or my hand and I allowed that,' she said in a 2014 documentary.

'I wasn't uncomfortable, so long as it wasn't too rough.'

Her rationale was that it was easier to just let it happen and get on with the research. But after a while she discovered the best way to get him to focus was to relieve his desires herself – manually!

And, of course, there was the infamous tale involving a man called Malcolm Brenner, who claimed to have had a year-long love affair with a dolphin called Dolly in the 1970s at a theme park in Sarasota, Florida, which he fictionalised in his book, Wet Goddess.

Apparently, they both fell into deep depression when Dolly was moved to another centre and she died soon after.

We can only hope and pray that it was all made up. If nothing else, it highlights our obsession with these extraordinary animals.

But the town of Amble in Northumberland must surely be the home of Britain's most bizarre sexy dolphin story.

It involves 'Freddy The Friendliest Dolphin', who turned up in the late 1970s.

For a while, he became the biggest tourist attraction in the North East, briefly transforming the fortunes of Amble as people flocked from all over the world – Sweden, America, Australia, Hawaii – to swim with Freddy and 'feel his touch'.

'Freddy The Friendliest Dolphin' (pictured swimming away from actress Rula Lenska) turned up in the late 1970s and, for a while, became the biggest tourist attraction in the North East

The shops sold 'I love Freddy' T-shirts and 'Friendly Freddy' hats and mugs.

But sadly, the relationship all went sour when Alan Cooper, an animal rights campaigner, who had spent hundreds of hours swimming with Freddy in the North Sea, was accused of sexually abusing him and the whole sorry tale ended up in court.

Thankfully, after a crown court trial, Mr Cooper was acquitted.

Apparently, Freddy just liked hooking Mr Cooper's arm with his penis as they swam together. But the court proceedings rather took the sheen off things.

Worse was to come for poor Freddy when a member of the Royal Family visited the local lifeboat station.

A lady-in-waiting asked to see him and, when she was taken out in a police boat, Freddy collided with its twin propellers. The blades cut gashes six inches deep into his right flank and he was lucky to survive.

As well as losing their fear of humans, over-familiar dolphins often become complacent around boats and, like Reggie and Freddy, expose themselves to dangerous propellers.

Meanwhile, back in Lyme Bay, it is only a couple of weeks since Reggie's joyful early morning swim with Lynda MacDonald and her family – but it seems much, much longer.

Would she have been better advised not to share the video and just keep the wonderful memories for herself?

Because the poor confused dolphin doesn't know whether he's coming or going.

Perhaps the only thing that can save him now is for everyone – particularly women in wetsuits – to keep well out of his way and remove temptation in the hope that, eventually, he'll get bored with the joys of neoprene and swim back out to sea.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15025991/male-dolphins-women-sexually-attractive.html

U. S. News: Should America’s military plan for a retreat from the Pacific?

 

Should America’s military plan for a retreat from the Pacific?

By Michael Peck, Defense News Com, August 21, 2025

https://www.defensenews.com/global/asia-pacific/2025/08/20/should-america-plan-for-a-retreat-from-the-pacific/

25th Infantry Division soldiers fly back to Cagayan, Philippines, in a Blackhawk after completing a resupply mission for U.S. Marines assigned to 3rd Marine Division in support of Exercise Balikatan 25 on April 26. (Spc. Charles Clark/U.S. Army)

When America goes to war, it likes to be on the offensive. “Nobody ever defended anything successfully,” Gen. George S. Patton famously said. “There is only attack and attack and attack some more.”

But for six months after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. military retreated and retreated some more. The U.S. garrison in the Philippines, under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, steadily retreated before the Japanese onslaught that culminated in the surrender at Bataan in May 1942. Isolated outposts at Wake Island and Guam fell, while the decimated and outnumbered U.S. fleet carefully stuck to hit-and-run as America mobilized for total war.

Today, a U.S. Army officer has a warning: In the face of growing Chinese military power, America needs to relearn how to conduct a fighting retreat in the Pacific.

“Fading advantages in firepower, distributed forces, and the growing operational reach of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) require an expansion of operational thought,” wrote Maj. Patrick Smith in a recent essay for Military Review, an Army professional publication. “The joint force must consider methods of retrograde to shape advantages in time, space, and force.”

Smith lists several factors that imperil America’s position in the Pacific.

“Small constellations of U.S. elements — ashore and afloat — encircle the looming mass of mainland China,” he wrote. “Operating on tenuous exterior lines, they are vulnerable to defeat in detail by a prodigious array of standoff munitions or blockade.” Resupply is difficult within range of Chinese weapons, reserves of personnel and munitions are scarce, and “regional partners can quickly about-face on support to U.S. forces, making presence in some locales untenable.”

Smith also worries that the U.S. lacks sufficient sealift, arguing that “glaring training shortfalls in crisis response, worsened by maintenance deficiencies, compromise U.S. capacity to conduct amphibious actions.”

Of all military operations, retreat under fire is probably the most difficult. Smith points to several historical examples where U.S. forces had to conduct fighting withdrawals, including the American Revolution, Civil War and World War II. Perhaps the most relevant example for the Pacific today is the 1941 Philippines campaign, where MacArthur planned a delaying action that called for U.S. and Filipino troops to gradually retreat from Manila south to the fortified Bataan peninsula — and then hold on until a relief force arrived from America. “Dugout Doug” MacArthur’s leadership in 1941 was controversial to say the least, but the six-month resistance until May 1942 did inflict some delay on Japanese operations.

Given that Manila was 2,000 miles from Tokyo and 5,000 miles from Pearl Harbor, choosing to conduct a retrograde operation while awaiting reinforcement was not an unreasonable strategy. The problem was that the relief force lay at the bottom of Pearl Harbor after the Japanese attack on December 7th. Not only didn’t the promised reinforcements arrive, but there was insufficient transport to evacuate the Philippines garrison.

“Strategic planners failed to prioritize sealift as the American Filipino force grimly gave way,” Smith noted. A similar fate nearly befell Washington’s army with its backs to the East River at the Battle of Long Island in August 1776, but for a regiment composed of Massachusetts fishermen who ferried the Continentals to safety.

A more successful example was Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s 1864 campaign in Virginia, when the Army of the Potomac withdrew from Cold Harbor. Through an elaborate deception campaign, Grant diverted Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s attention by ordering the Army of the Shenandoah to make a feint attack toward Lynchburg 140 miles away. The Army of the Potomac then redeployed by crossing the James River, a potentially fatal operation if the Confederates had attacked.

Smith argues that the U.S. needs to relearn how to retreat.

“Fighting withdrawals and delays will be sharpened arrows in the quiver of operational leaders campaigning in the early stages of a Pacific fight,” he wrote. “In those precarious moments, the joint force should prudently select positions from which it can absorb repeated blows while degrading enemy means.”

Smith envisions a widely distributed joint force that would “confound the PLA with a targeting dilemma if it decides to switch to the offensive.” Deception operations would be key: “Similar to Grant’s illusory movements to confuse Lee, feints, demonstrations, and advances within and outside of theater may freeze enemy actions to create time and space for movement of friendly forces.”

Adroit maneuvers, well-timed withdrawals and clever deception operations would exploit American strengths and Chinese weaknesses, Smith argued.

Nonetheless, most Americans would probably agree with Patton that the best defense is a good offense. Knowing how to retreat is important, but it’s more important to be able to absorb the enemy’s blows while inflicting your own, Eric Heginbotham, a researcher at MIT’s Center for International Studies, told Defense News.

In contrast to 1941, the situation in the Pacific today “has to do largely with long-range fires and our ability to survive adversary ones while conducting our own,” Heginbotham said. The problem is that the U.S. has failed to harden its Pacific airbases against Chinese missile barrages, or ensure that U.S. forces enjoy flexible and redundant logistics that can function in the face of Chinese attacks.

“This has a bit less to do with retrograde per se, than not putting our forces forward in highly vulnerable positions,” said Heginbotham. Dispersing for distributed operations can help mitigate those vulnerabilities.

Nonetheless, Heginbotham agrees the U.S. military needs to know how to retrograde operations. Ironically, despite America’s distaste for retreat, the U.S. can do this better than China.

“One advantage we do enjoy in the Pacific is maritime depth and the ability to engage where and when we want,” Heginbotham said. “In contrast, the Chinese fleet is up against a continent. It has nowhere to run or hide and is, in effect, in the shooting gallery from day one.”

United States vs China - Who Would Win? Army / Military Comparison 2025

God Bless and protect the United States of America and all its people!

Please Recommend this page and follow us athttps://disqus.com/home/forum/the-coconut-whisperer/

Rights of British Women in the 1600s

When girls married aged 12 and became the property of their husbands: Rare book lays out the 'rights' of women in 17th century Britain

An incredibly rare book that laid out women's rights 400 years ago has sold for thousands of pounds.

The landmark legal tome, titled The Lawes Resolutions Of Women's Rights, gives an extraordinary insight into the laws that shaped women's lives in 17th century Britain.

It covers subjects including marriage, divorce, property, polygamy, promises of marriage and rape.

But it outlines how women had little legal recourse available to them and were subject to the control of their husbands. 

The author makes clear the paradox that women were strictly bound by laws they could not make, interpret, or even officially hear explained. 

One chapter, titled 'The Baron May Beate His Wife', explains the then legal concept that while husbands should love their wives, the law allowed a man to physically discipline them in order to control them.

Another states that when a woman marries her identity is subsumed under her husband's.

One line states: 'Now Man and Woman are one* by this * a married woman perhaps may either doubt whether she be either none or no more than half a person.'

An incredibly rare book that was the first work to recognise women's rights almost 400 years ago has sold for thousands of pounds. The landmark legal tome is titled The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights and was published in 1632

An illustration originally published in The Strand Magazine depicting a woman in the 17th century wearing what was known as a scold's bridle, which prevented the victim from speaking

The book is attributed to Thomas Edgar and was printed in 1632.

It sought to make the subject more accessible to those outside the courts, such as educated 'gentlewomen.'

One chapter outlines how the law defined what a woman may or may not do at a certain age. 

They could consent to marriage at the age of 12 and inherit family wealth at 14.

Another states how unmarried women could be compelled to serve in households or in service roles, much like men could be pressed into labour.

Only a handful of copies of 'The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights' have been recorded worldwide, including one once owned by Thomas Jefferson that now resides in the Library of Congress.

This copy has a bookplate showing it was owned by William A Hunter, a distinguished Scottish jurist and Liberal politician.

It later passed by descent to artist George Sherwood Hunter, and was sold by his estate at Anderson and Garland in Newcastle.

The book gives an extraordinary insight into the laws that shaped women's lives in 17th century Britain

This copy has a bookplate showing it was owned by William A Hunter, a distinguished Scottish jurist and Liberal politician

It had an estimate of £2,000-3,000 but sold for a hammer price of £7,500, rising to £9,375 with fees added on

It had an estimate of £2,000-3,000 but sold for a hammer price of £7,500, rising to £9,375 with fees added on.

It was bought by a UK buyer after fierce competition online, in the room and over the telephone.

John Anderson, head of the book department at Anderson and Garland, said: 'This is a truly remarkable survival and one of the most significant works in the early history of women's rights.

'It is thrilling to see it achieve such a strong price, reflecting its rarity, importance and continuing resonance.'

A spokesman for Anderson and Garland added: 'Throughout the book, women are portrayed as legally disadvantaged, but the work insists that they should nonetheless know their legal position.

'It was not an argument for equality but a manual of information, bringing statutes and case law into English prose.

'Its existence highlights the contradictions of early modern England: women were subject to laws they had no power to make, yet this book sought to grant them at least the knowledge of those laws.

'By modern standards, The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights contains views that are outdated, but its historical significance cannot be overstated.

'As the first book in English to detail women's rights, it was designed to be instructional and to clarify how women should be treated in matters of property, marriage, and inheritance.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15020619/Women-17th-century-Britain-rights-married.html