So a cow can use a stick to scratch its backside. When will we learn that humans are really not that special? | Helen Pilcher

"Writing in the journal Current Biology, researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Austria described how Veronika, a 13-year-old brown Swiss pet cow, picks up the broom with her tongue then twists around and uses it to scratch the bits of her body she could otherwise not reach. The blunt end of the broom is used for the sensitive skin on her belly, while the bristly end is reserved for the thicker skin on her upper back and buttocks."

"It is, the authors say, not just the first time that tool use has been officially documented in cattle, but the first sign that cattle can flexibly use tools in a multi-purpose manner. Veronika elevated a humble back yard brush to the status of a Swiss army knife. Managed deftly in her mouth, the implement was both belly gadget and buttock gizmo. The reaction was one of surprise, but it shouldn't be. We consistently underestimate the abilities of non-human animals, even when the evidence"

A beef cow called Noisette used her tongue to pull back the catch on a pen door to steal cattle nuts and later released herd-mates and watched them cause mayhem. A 13-year-old brown Swiss cow named Veronika picks up a broom with her tongue, twists, and scratches body parts she cannot otherwise reach. The broom's blunt end is used on sensitive belly skin, and the bristly end on thicker upper back and buttocks. This behavior constitutes deliberate tool use and represents the first documented instance of flexible, multi-purpose tool use in cattle. Humans frequently underestimate non-human animal abilities.

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