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Who was the dolphin that fell in love with a human?

Published in Dolphin Behavior 2 mins read

The dolphin that reportedly fell in love with a human was Peter, a six-year-old bottlenose dolphin. His story emerged from a controversial NASA-funded research project in the 1960s, aiming to teach dolphins to communicate with humans.

Peter's Story: A Dolphin in Love

Peter was part of an unusual experiment conducted by neuroscientist John C. Lilly in a house converted into a marine laboratory on St. Thomas in the Caribbean. The goal was to understand dolphin communication, with the hope of eventually teaching them English.

The Human Connection

A young woman named Margaret Howe Lovatt was assigned to live with Peter in a flooded house, spending 24 hours a day with him for extended periods. Her role was to teach Peter to mimic human sounds. During this intense immersion, a profound and unconventional bond developed between them. Peter reportedly showed signs of deep affection, longing, and even sexual attraction towards Lovatt. This unique relationship became a focal point of the controversial research.

Key Details About Peter

Aspect Detail
Name Peter the dolphin
Species Bottlenose Dolphin
Age Approximately 6 years old during the primary experiment
Location A converted laboratory house on St. Thomas, Caribbean
Human Margaret Howe Lovatt, a researcher involved in the communication experiment
Context NASA-funded research in the 1960s to study dolphin communication
Outcome Peter's reported death due to depression after being separated from Lovatt and moved to a facility in Miami.

The Tragic End

When the funding for the controversial project was cut, Peter was moved from the familiar, stimulating environment of the St. Thomas laboratory to a small, isolated tank in a Miami facility. It's reported that Peter, separated from the human he had bonded with and deprived of the constant interaction and mental stimulation, became deeply depressed. Within a few weeks of his transfer, he died by reportedly sinking to the bottom of his tank and refusing to surface for air, leading many to believe he died of a "broken heart."

Peter's story highlights the complex and often ethically challenging nature of interspecies relationships and research, leaving a lasting, albeit somber, legacy in the annals of animal behavior studies.