Harry Harlow conducted experiments with baby monkeys to test the hypothesis that animals learn to attach to the animal that feeds them. He found that baby monkeys kept in bare cages often died, while monkeys placed in cages with either a wire or cloth-covered "mother" spent more time clinging to and seeking comfort from the cloth mother, even when the wire mother dispensed milk. His research demonstrated that contact comfort is important for attachment formation and social/emotional development in young primates.