I had a love affair with a dolphin named Peter who ‘killed himself’ by drowning after we separated

PETER the dolphin fell in love with a human woman - but when the two separated he was so heartbroken he took his own life.

The six-year-old bottlenose dolphin had a romance with 23-year-old research assistant Margaret Howe during a wild ten week fling in the 1960s.

But when they were pulled apart by circumstances, Peter was left utterly devastated.

He refused to breathe, sank to the bottom of his tank, and died in a case widely claimed to be an act of "suicide".

Margaret and Peter first met in a bizarre NASA-funded experiment designed to teach dolphins to understand and potentially even mimic human speech.

The purpose the test was stranger still - with the longtime goal being to work out how humans could talk to aliens.

And perhaps even odder was the massive undertaking to create "The Dolphin House" - a sprawling complex flooded with water where Margaret and Peter would live together for ten weeks.

Margaret would spend all her time in the 22in deep seawater with Peter - apart from when she could climb onto a dry bed or desk which hung from the ceiling hidden behind shower curtains.

The couple were to live, sleep, wash, eat and play together as they attempted to teach the dolphin - one of the most intelligent animals on the planet - how to speak through his blowhole.