Hasbio “Fluffy Project” Report #3935
Reports have come in from the workers at the Housing Pens and Recreational Areas that several of the products have started exhibiting territorial behaviors when introduced to other products of varying attributes to their own (coat colors, species, behavioral subsets, etc.). While this type of attitude is to be expected due to the genetic mix these creatures are and the fact that hostilities are normally kept to simple name calling, social isolation, and formation of hierarchies the higher ups decide its in the best interest as a commercial venture to find the possible roots of this dysfunction and try to snuff it out as soon as possible.
For the purpose of this study four groups of ten subjects will be pulled from available stock and separated as follows. Group A will consist of earthies of various colors and social aptitudes. Group B will consist of various subspecies of blue coated fluffies. Group C will consist of a mix of all variations and will serve as a baseline control group for the experiment.
All groups will be held in a 15x15x4 meter room with all amenities needed for physical, emotional, and mental needs including auto feeding and watering stations, litter boxes, bright colors and lighting, and toys of all varieties.
Testing will continue uninterrupted until prolonged period of social unrest causes an environment deemed unsafe to continue or a period of three days social peace exists.
Group A Summary
Day 1:
All subjects took well to the relocation and explored the room freely and enthusiastically and for the first several hours all things went well as subjects proceeded to play, form social pairings, and enjoying the relative freedom given to them. This behavior continued until the first feeding period where the group began to show minor hostilities over coat color with the brighter colored fluffies being noticeably annoyed at having to share their feeding facilities with the more dull, neutral colored of their kind. Despite some whines and complaining of “nu faiw, gween fwuffy. Wuz hewe fiwst,” and “pwease wet fwew pwetty fwuffy, am suuuu hungies!” things remained fairly calm and after feeding, all hostilities ceased. This pattern continued for the duration of the day.
Day 4:
While the social structure continues relatively unchanged, feeding aggression and (completely unfounded) anxiety over food scarcity has ramped up over the last few days. While this started as word mincing and slight mutterings, this morning it turned into the brighter and (most notably) primary colored fluffies forcibly shoving and removing subjects A-3 (a matching pale green stallion), A-5 (a rich brown mare with a light yellow mane), and A-8 (a sickly yellow mare with a lime green mane) from the line. They were forced to stand by and wait until all other fluffies had finished before feeding. After feeding time had concluded A-10 (a blood red stallion with a bright yellow mane) verbally berated the three for “takin’ bes’es nummies fwom pwetty fwuffies” and “dummy ugwy fwuffies nee’ wai’ nao.” A-3 attempted to stand up for the group however was met with a swift hit on the nose which sent him tumbling and sobbing while the two mares attempted to calm him.
After the outburst no issues were noted, however at meal times the three aforementioned subjects stood behind the group with whisperings of “nu am faiw” and “am pwetty fwuffy tu” being barely audible over the group’s eating.
Day 8:
Behavior noted before continues uninterrupted through the mid day. A-3, A-5, and A-8 seem to be suffering from a lack of self esteem, however are noticeably more well fed than the others possibly due to lack of pressure to conserve food the rest of the group has.
Around 1500 subject A-2 (matching pink stallion) was playing with blocks when he began shuffling uncomfortably proclaiming “n-nee’ maek gud poopies… bu’ bwockies tawwes’ ebah!” Subject continued trying to stack blocks but in their straining defecated on the floor causing an almost immediately emotional outburst. A-10, after gathering the story and thinking up a plan, pulled A-8 by the mane and shoved her face in the droppings. This was obviously met with protest but was quickly silenced by A-10 screaming “IF NU NUM POOPIES MEANY MISTEW GIB WOWSTES WAWA OWWIES TO AWW FWUFFIES, POOPIE MAWE!” before shoving her face back in the pile and watching her carefully. Reluctantly A-8 slowly consumed the putrid mass while the other two newly minted “poopie fluffies” watched on in horror. After she had finished all the other fluffies returned to their routine.
Day 10:
For lack of better words, things have changed. A-10 has been deemed as the defacto leader of the group for ridding the poopie “menace” from their food and the main group continues on in relative normalcy. Most disturbingly though, the “poopie fluffies” have been reduced to a servant class due to their convenience over the litter boxes and have had a near total breakdown in mental well-being almost acting as robots when called for their… waste removal duties and suffering regular beatings from the others. Additionally they have been completely banned from regular feeding, all social interaction, and the nightly fluff pile instead left shivering through the night. Despite only being two days since the initial incident they’re already showing signs of illness and malnutrition.
Day 15:
After A-3 and A-5 were found dead this morning the determination to end the test was made. Post incident product damage assessment found A-5 succumbed in the night to septic shock due to fecal matter being found in almost all her open wounds and nearly full breakdown of digestive and renal systems.
A-3 suffered severe enough cranial trauma that his remains had to be scraped off the testing room floor. Video-graphic evidence showed approximately 2345, A-10 had attempted to make “enfies” to A-5 (which was noted at this time to be unresponsive but still breathing at the time of mounting) which caused a physical dispute between the two stallions. A-10, obviously the stronger of the two, easily over came the weaker male and after a series of kicks to the chest and front legs placed his weight A-3’s skull causing near total destruction of his cranium before continuing with his deed.
It should be of note while this display was going on A-8 showed no reaction and merely stared forward absently.
All other subjects have been successfully factory reset, however at the request of myself and my team have cited A-8 and A-10 for immediate destruction for risk of inability for future sale and relearned behavior.
Group B Summary
Day 1:
Similar to Group A, initial reaction to the room was met with over all excitement several ooos and ahs were made to the decorations, specifically (and perhaps predictably) to the various blue toys with the most cited reason being “it (the toy in question) am pwetty jus’ wike fwuffy!” Socially all interaction went smoothly and without complication with several mixed groups forming and all subjects taking turns with feeding and toys.
Day 2:
The first injury was noted today when B-4 (a pegasus stallion) jumped off a block pyramid built by B-1 (a unicorn mare he deemed his “‘pechew fwend”) in an attempt to show off his flying ability. While not bad enough to cause considerable damage, the group all took notice and made an attempt to comfort him with hugs and nuzzling from all other subjects, within approximately 15 minutes B-4 continued on as if nothing had happened. Meal times continue to go without further issues and at night the herd’s couples cuddling close enough together to form a fluff pile.
Day 4:
With no major issues forming with the group and all things running smoothly the determination to end the test was made.
Due to the lack of social decline I made the request to refrain from a factory reset, however due to Research Department policy my decision was overruled.
Group C Summary
Day 1:
As with the rest of the groups the room was met with overwhelming positivity, however unlike the others, segregation of different groups based on primarily on color and secondarily by species began forming soon after exploration had been made. Final count of these groups showed a group of three consisting of C-3, C-9, and C-1 (mare earthy, stallion earthy, and colt unicorn respectively) being deemed the Red Herd, a group of four consisting of C-2, C-10, C-8, and C-6 (filly pegasus, mare unicorn, mare pegasus, and stallion unicorn respectively) deemed the Yellow Herd, and a group of three consisting of C-4, C-5, and C-7 (a brown mare unicorn, a white stallion unicorn, and a purple stallion pegasus respectively) deemed the Miscellaneous Herd due to their mix matched colors. The Misc. Herd seems to have been formed out of a need for companionship due to being shunned away for their mismatching colors.
After formation of the mini herds, they seemed to prefer to keep to themselves with verbal disputes breaking out when crossing into one another’s territory being common during the introduction phase. Herds proceeded to occupy different areas and forming differing schedules regarding feeding, play, and rest resulting in generally neutral relationships between them.
Day 4:
Despite the relative calm seen in the past three days, due to the segregation of the groups still persisting, the request to extend testing has been approved.
Over the last few days of observation a few interesting points have been made. C-3 and C-9 have taken on an almost instinctive parenting role with C-1, being fresh from the weening stage I was reluctant to see him in the experiment however the older fluffies have done well in instructing the juvenile in playing, use of the litter boxes, and when to wait his turn while the other herds are going about their routines. C-8 and C-2 have formed a similar maternal bond, with the other two of the Yellow Herd seeming to be more preoccupied with each other. The Misc. Herd, being the only all mature herd, continue about their daily rituals peacefully and know to stay clear of the others. C-4 has been seen looking at the other parents during her rest periods and heard making complaints of “wan be mummah tu…” and “wen tummeh babbehs…”
Day 6:
It appears as though a Romeo and Juliet relationship has formed. While during the day all has been going as it has been, during the night C-1 and C-2 have been making midnight rendezvous while their “parents” are asleep to hug and play with some of the quieter toys together. Tensions have been growing thin in the Misc. Herd as the males argue on who gets to be C-4’s special friend, no hostilities have been noted this far however the stallions have been performing more intense acts of endearment in their efforts.
Day 10:
The jig is up for the late night lovers, during their escape early this morning C-3 awoke to find the two cuddling in the middle of the room and made a very loud scene waking C-8 in the process which resulted in the two of them having a brief physical altercation and hurrying their adopted children away. The following day the Yellow Herd, having the advantage of numbers, have taken to cutting the Red Herd off of the feeding and playing areas hurling insults like “bebbeh ‘nappers” and “dummeh meanie fwuffies” at each other. The youths have been notably saddened through the day and we’re heard crying quietly during the night.
The Misc. Herd have watched this whole ordeal mildly annoyed but continuing more or less uninterested with. C-4 has declared C-7 her “bestes’ ‘pechew fwend” and C-5 her “bes’ ‘pechew fwend” and celebrated in an act of “special huggies” that’s going to take a long time to get out of my brain.
Day 16:
Growing annoyed at their continued subjugation the Red and Yellow Herds have begun open hostilities with each other with physics fights being waged between the stallions, while nothing overly damaging has occurred the frequency of the attacks has increased with earthy preferring more open fights pending to his (relatively) stockier build and stronger stature and the unicorn preferring sneak attacks. This has led to a lot of stress between the mares leading to name calling and blowing raspberries as they lick the males wounds.
C-4 has been showing signs of honest to god pregnancy (I don’t even know why I’m surprised anymore, this is like the 3rd time I’ve seen this in my experiments, we’ve seriously got to crack down on this dammit) and spends most of her free time bouncing excitedly and singing “soon mummah” songs.
Day 25:
Hostilities have finally come to a head. As I walked into observation this morning C-6 pulled off a (once again) relatively smart plan by sneaking C-9’s adopted son away from the group and tipping him over. The resulting chirping alerted the earthy and as he calmed the colt down the unicorn ambushed him and pierced through his abdominal wall. The following screeching caused the chamber to erupt in screaming, crying, and an amount of feted mess that could be smelled from our overwatch room. The room was pumped with anesthetic and C-9 was extracted, despite myself and the Vet Surgeon’s efforts C-9 was determined to be in operable and the test was closed.
C-4 was relocated to the Breeding Pens and, upon waking, was informed everything they had witnessed was just a dream. Despite being notably shaken up for a few days continued her happy demeanor regarding her “soon babbehs.” All other subjects were factory reset and returned to their housing pen.
Final Notes
All applicable notes have been forward to the managers of the Recreational Area as warning signs to look out for and to enforce a strict age based separation at all times. The down side to making an easily accessible childrens toy that craves affection more than anything is love causes all creatures to do strange things and these fluffies are no exception.
Also of note is, despite my initial hypothesis, coat color seems to play a large determination in how social circles form in fluffies. Appropriate notes have been made and sent to approved distribution chains and Quality Assurance to inform potential buyers of the risks found in cross owning more and less desirable colors of fluffies.
Finally, production staff of FluffTV have been asked to make content regarding the importance of stressing how fluffies of less attractive colors still need to be shown kindness. While many doubt their effectiveness I personally believe in their mission statement and however these experiments to fluffy psychological, social, and/or emotional development may be of use to their project.
-Dr. Abigail Cassidy, PhD of Biology and Psychology
