A Dolphin Once Fell in Love With a Woman and Committed Suicide When She Left

Margaret Howe and Peter the dolphin.Photo byYOUTUBE/BBC

The Unlikely Bond Between Human and Dolphin

In the 1960s, an extraordinary and tragic love story unfolded between a human and a dolphin, leading to a heart-wrenching conclusion that has intrigued and saddened many.

Peter, a 6-year-old bottlenose dolphin, formed an intense emotional bond with Margaret Howe, a 23-year-old research assistant, during an unconventional NASA-funded experiment.

The bond between them became so profound that when they were separated, Peter, unable to cope with the loss, took his own life.

An Experiment with Unusual Goals

The tale began as part of a bizarre scientific experiment designed to explore the possibilities of interspecies communication.

The ultimate goal was to teach dolphins to understand and potentially mimic human speech, with the hope that these findings could one day be applied to communicate with extraterrestrial beings.

To facilitate this ambitious project, a unique living arrangement called "The Dolphin House" was created—a flooded, human-dolphin cohabitation space where Margaret and Peter would live together around the clock for ten weeks.

An Unexpected Relationship Develops

During their time together, Margaret and Peter's relationship evolved in ways that no one had anticipated.

The experiment, led by Dr. John C. Lilly from the Dolphin Point Laboratory on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, was intended to teach Peter how to mimic human speech through his blowhole.

But as the days passed, it became evident that Peter's attachment to Margaret was growing beyond the confines of a mere research subject.

Peter, described by his vet as "madly in love" with Margaret, began exhibiting behaviors that indicated his deep emotional attachment. By the 4th week of the experiment, Peter had become sexually aroused around Margaret, expressing his affection by nibbling at her and rubbing against her legs.

In a bid to keep him focused on the experiment, Margaret began to manually relieve Peter's sexual urges, an act she later described as "sensuous" and "getting rid of an itch" but not sexual from her perspective.

Despite the unusual nature of their interactions, Margaret admitted to forming a deep emotional bond with Peter, enjoying his company and missing him when they were apart.

The Heartbreak of Separation

Their bond became increasingly evident as Peter's behavior grew more affectionate and possessive.

He would sleep next to Margaret's suspended bed, watch television with her, and even began attempting to form human-like sounds, including the word "ball."

But just as their relationship reached its peak, the funding for the experiment ran out, and The Dolphin House was shut down. Peter was transferred 1,000 miles away to a smaller lab in Florida, separated from the woman he had grown to love.

A Tragic End: The Suicide of Peter the Dolphin

The separation proved to be too much for Peter.

In his new environment, he was kept in cramped conditions, far from Margaret. Within weeks, Peter stopped breathing voluntarily, sinking to the bottom of his tank in what was widely interpreted as an act of suicide.

The lab's vet, Andy Williamson, attributed Peter's death to a broken heart, explaining that while Margaret could rationalize their separation, Peter could not.

The dolphin's death sparked a debate among scientists about whether dolphins possess the mental capacity to commit suicide. Some, like Ric O’Barry from The Dolphin Project, argue that dolphins, who must consciously breathe, can choose to end their lives when they find their circumstances unbearable.

Lori Marino, a behavioral neuroscientist and dolphin expert, has also weighed in on the matter, suggesting that dolphins have the sophisticated capacity for emotions and complex thought processes that could lead to self-destructive behavior.

She argues that dolphins, like humans, may experience the kinds of motivational states that accompany thoughts of suicide.

Peter's tragic story serves as a poignant reminder of the deep emotional lives of animals and raises profound questions about the ethics of human-animal interactions, especially in the context of scientific experimentation.