3 ms·

Margaret Howe lived with a dolphin for ten weeks in the 1960s

10 points by nreece 11y ago

dang 11y ago
Url changed from http://nypost.com/2014/06/10/the-dolphin-that-fell-in-love-with-a-human/ http://nypost.com/2014/06/10/the-dolphin-that-fell-in-love-w..., which points to this. Although unduly sensational, it contains new information about a historically significant experiment. We can change the URL to a better source if anybody finds one.
pvaldes 11y ago
Most probably, an uncontrollable and too aggresive male dolphin (caused by forced isolation and a wrong training) is put down after the experiment. Cause of death "suicide".
- halviti 11y ago
  He died after refusing to breathe http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolphin-who-loved-me http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolph... This same thing happened to one of the dolphins that played flipper on TV causing the dolphin's trainer to become an anti-captivity activist.
giarc 11y ago
There was a RadioLab podcast about this story a few months ago (I believe it was RadioLab). Margaret was asked about the reports of sexual contact between her and Peter. Her response was, if I can paraphrase, that Peter would get distracted during the day because of his sexual urges. This would slow down the training Margaret was trying to do and therefore she would... fulfil his urges and Peter would then start to complete his training again. This article fails to mention a few important details that I'm sure the BBC documentary will. The lead researcher was very much into drug culture and Margaret said in the podcast that he gave drugs to some of the dolphins (not Peter) hoping that it would "open their mind" and help with the language development. I don't remember clearly, but I'm not sure if the podcast mentioned the timeline of the experiment. I was surprised to read it was only 10 weeks.
- pvaldes 11y ago
  Horrible trainers doing stupid things. Everybody knows that dolphins can not be safely drugged. They stop to breath and die if you try to use sedatives or anesthesia.
  - giarc 11y ago
    I think they were given LSD or other psychedelics. I think the idea was to relieve their inhibitions and their language skills would broaden. This is why we have research ethic boards now.
    - pvaldes 11y ago
      This could explain the agressive behaviour cited in several parts of the article and naively explained as "love". Poor animal.

10 points by nreece 11y ago

dang 11y ago

Url changed from http://nypost.com/2014/06/10/the-dolphin-that-fell-in-love-with-a-human/ http://nypost.com/2014/06/10/the-dolphin-that-fell-in-love-w..., which points to this. Although unduly sensational, it contains new information about a historically significant experiment. We can change the URL to a better source if anybody finds one.

pvaldes 11y ago

Most probably, an uncontrollable and too aggresive male dolphin (caused by forced isolation and a wrong training) is put down after the experiment. Cause of death "suicide".

halviti 11y ago
He died after refusing to breathe http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolphin-who-loved-me http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/08/the-dolph... This same thing happened to one of the dolphins that played flipper on TV causing the dolphin's trainer to become an anti-captivity activist.

giarc 11y ago

There was a RadioLab podcast about this story a few months ago (I believe it was RadioLab). Margaret was asked about the reports of sexual contact between her and Peter. Her response was, if I can paraphrase, that Peter would get distracted during the day because of his sexual urges. This would slow down the training Margaret was trying to do and therefore she would... fulfil his urges and Peter would then start to complete his training again. This article fails to mention a few important details that I'm sure the BBC documentary will. The lead researcher was very much into drug culture and Margaret said in the podcast that he gave drugs to some of the dolphins (not Peter) hoping that it would "open their mind" and help with the language development. I don't remember clearly, but I'm not sure if the podcast mentioned the timeline of the experiment. I was surprised to read it was only 10 weeks.

pvaldes 11y ago
Horrible trainers doing stupid things. Everybody knows that dolphins can not be safely drugged. They stop to breath and die if you try to use sedatives or anesthesia.
- giarc 11y ago
  I think they were given LSD or other psychedelics. I think the idea was to relieve their inhibitions and their language skills would broaden. This is why we have research ethic boards now.
  - pvaldes 11y ago
    This could explain the agressive behaviour cited in several parts of the article and naively explained as "love". Poor animal.