1 of 3 | A Swiss brown cow named Veronika was documented using tools — the first time such a behavior has been noted in bovines. Photo courtesy of Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró
Researchers in Austria detailed the unusual case of the first cow to be documented using tools — specifically, sticks and brushes she uses to scratch herself.
The team from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna said Veronika, a pet Swiss brown cow belonging to Carinthia resident Witgar Wiegele, has been holding sticks in her mouth to scratch her body for years.
Wiegele said Veronika first started picking up pieces of wood about a decade ago, and moved on to using a long brush — even showing a preference for using the brush end to scratch where her skin is thickest, and the handle end to scratch her more sensitive areas.
The researchers published their findings in the journal Current Biology.
Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, said Veronika’s behavior could lead to a complete reassessment of farm animal intelligence.
“The findings highlight how assumptions about livestock intelligence may reflect gaps in observation rather than genuine cognitive limits,” Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, said in a news release.
“When I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was not accidental,” Auersperg said. “This was a meaningful example of tool use in a species that is rarely considered from a cognitive perspective.”
Auersperg and Antonio Osuna-Mascaró, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Veterinary Medicine, visited Veronika in person to examine her behavior.
“We show that a cow can engage in genuinely flexible tool use,” Osuna-Mascaró said. “Veronika is not just using an object to scratch herself. She uses different parts of the same tool for different purposes, and she applies different techniques depending on the function of the tool and the body region.”
The researchers acknowledged Veronika’s behavior evokes a Far Side comic drawn by Gary Larson in 1982. The comic, titled “Cow Tools,” features a cow posing with bizarre and useless objects. The absurd comic has been a source of online fascination in recent years.
“[Veronika] did not fashion tools like the cow in Gary Larson’s cartoon, but she selected, adjusted, and used one with notable dexterity and flexibility,” the researchers wrote. “Perhaps the real absurdity lies not in imagining a tool-using cow, but in assuming such a thing could never exist.”
