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.