Attachment (Confirmation Bias)

FractalFluff, January 15, 2014; 03:50 / FB 16572
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Attachment

>Be Fluffy Researcher
>Investigating emotional development of fluffies.
>Now attempting to answer the question of whether food is more important to a foal, or "huggies"
>Physical affection.
>Many of your collegues insist that foals crave physical contact at least as much, or more, as their mother's milk
>You argue that it's impossible to judge.

>Therefore you set up a fluffy version of one of Harry Harlow's notorious monkey studies.
>You take two mares — grown sisters from the same litter, virtually identical.
>Impregnate them, allow them to reach term, then remove and euthanize the foals.
>("Huuhuuhuu! Bayyyybeeeeehhs... huuuhuuhuuuu..."
>Amputate all the legs on one, just the rear legs on the second.
>("Huuhuuhuu! Weggiiiiiieeees... huuhuuhuu...")
>Enucleate both.
>("Huuhuuhuu! Eyesiiiiiies... huuhuuhuu...")
>Both mares are strapped to one wall of a small pen in
>Sitting in the classic "milkbag" position.
>Fed through nasogastric tubes
>Other tubes suck away waste.

>You take the last surviving foal from your previous experiment (Number 16)
>Douse it with plenty of that special foal-acceptance pheremone
>And place it in the pen.

>The quadruple amputee's body is caged in wire mesh, her head tipped back an masked to prevent her from nuzzling
>Her udders are encased in metal
>Only the very tips of her teats are available.
>Mare A, or the "milkies mare".

>The double amputee can move the upper half of her body almost freely
>But her udders are locked away behind a padded leather belt.
>Comfortable to hug, but prevents the foal from getting any milk.
>Mare B, or the "huggies mare".

>They can't see, but they can still hear and speak. And smell.
>*chirp* *chirp*
>*snf*
>"Baybeh? Whewe baybeh? Come tu mummah, baybeh! Come tu mummah!"
>Confused, the foal totters first one way, then the other.
>Finally, he clambers onto the lap of the "huggies mare"
>Blindly, she nuzzles and cuddles him
>"Dwink miwkies, babbeh! Ge' big an stwong!"
>But he can't find her teats.
>Eventually, fussing, he clambers down
>Fidgets up onto the mesh-covered body of the milkies mare
>"Wahh... wan gif huggies! Pwease gif weggies, nee' fow huggies!"
>The foal chirps in increasing distress.
>He can't feel any warmth or softness
>Just the hard wire mesh
>The stiff metal.
>He finds her teats and suckles briefly
>But without some softness, some affection, he can't settle.

>He totters back to Mare B for cuddles.
>"Miwk! Miwk!" he pleads
>"Siwwy baybeh, yu dwinkin miwkies!"
>The mare's milk is being pumped off.
>She has no idea he isn't drinking it.
>"Miwk!"

>Eventually the hunger overwhelms him
>He crawls back to Mare A
>Suckles a little more.
>"Wub?" he pleads. "Hugs? Wub?"
>"Wan gif huggies!" sobs Mare A.
>"Pwease! Baybeh nee huggies an wuv, nu jus' miwkies!"

>Baby crawls back and forth between the two mares.
>He tries to dig under Mare A's mesh, but only hurts himself.
>He tries to dig under Mare B's "bra", but only hurts her.
>He never stays long enough with the milkies mare to fill his tummy
>Becomes more and more fractious and fussy
>Starts crying and swallows air, making things worse.
>Mare A is frantic, trying to struggle free of her cage
>As if she could embrace him even if she were able to get out of the mesh.
>Mare B is increasingly confused;
>He's nursing at her teats all the time, why is he crying for milk?

>A day passes
>Then another.
>The foal is getting sicker.
>He sleeps fitfully in the arms of the "huggies mare"
>Now getting insufficient rest as well as too little milk.
>The milkies mare is hallucinating
>A result of her sensory deprivation.
>She seems to blame the foal for her condition
>She screams at the baby to go away, the whole time that he feeds.

>Mare B has finally understood that he isn't getting her milk
>Now she hallucinates too
>Swatting at an army of "bad baybehs" who come to steal her milk
>Sometimes hitting "her" baby
>The hungry foal.
>"Mummah! Mummah!" he cries.
>"Why huwt? Nu wub? Miwk!"

>On the third day, Mare A. is calling for him
>"Baybeh? Baybeh? Why nu dwink miwkies?"
>Unmilked, the pressure in her udders is painful.
>His nursing relieves it, and she coos over him.

>But the other mare is also calling:
>"Whewe baybeh? Dummeh mawe steaw baybeh!"
>She wraps him in her hug
>He sleeps for a short time, then wakes crying for milk.
>But he won't let go, won't leave her to drink from the other mare.

>They both sing "mummah songs"
>But different; dischordant.
>Instead of comforting him, they make him cry.

>By the evening of fourth day, the baby is too weak to move.
>He lolls in Mare B's "arms"
>Twisting his head towards the milkie mare
>She croons over him, hugs him
>But without food, she can't save him.

>The fifth day dawns. He's almost lifeless.
>With the greatest effort, she pushes him away.
>She doesn't want to.
>It breaks her heart.
>But she's heard him nursing
>Can smell the milk leaking from her sister's udders.
>She shoves him as far in the direction of the "milkies mare" as she can
>"Huuhuuhuuu... pwease dwink miwkies... sissy haf miwkies fow baybeh... huu..."

>He manages to place his mouth on her teat
>But he's too weak to suck now.
>He sinks to the floor of the pen.

>"Am... bad... baybeh..." *chirp*
>"Mummah... nu... wub..." is the last thing he says.

>You miss all this.
>You assistant, rushed off his feet, doesn't have tie to do anything except check vitals twice a day.
>You intended to record the process
>But you didn't set the camera up properly.
>Come in, find the baby dead by the "milkies mare"
>A drop of milk on his lips.
>Attribute death to hypothermia.
>Your report concludes that fluffies will happily forsake affection for a full belly.

>"Greedy little rats."