'Veronika' Is the First Cow Known to Use a Tool

"A team of scientists has observed, for the first time, a cow using a tool in a flexible manner. The ingenuity of "Veronika," as the animal is called, shows that cattle possess enough intelligence to manipulate elements of their environment and solve challenges they would otherwise be unable to overcome. Veronika is a pet cow in Austria. Her owners don't use her for meat or milk production."

"Nor was she trained to do tricks; on the contrary, for the past 10 years she has developed the ability to find branches in the grass, choose one, hold it with her mouth, and scratch herself with it to relieve skin irritation. Until now, only chimpanzees had convincingly demonstrated the ability to employ tools to improve their living conditions. Recent studies also point to whales as the only marine animals capable of using complex tools."

A pet Austrian cow named Veronika selects branches from grass, holds them in her mouth, and uses them to scratch skin irritations, a behavior developed over about ten years without training. Videos prompted veterinary researchers in Vienna to visit the farm, conduct behavioral tests, and run controlled trials that confirmed consistent, functionally appropriate choices across repeated sessions. In tests offering different textures and objects, Veronika adapted her selections and techniques, sometimes choosing softer bristles and other times stiffer points, using different parts of the same tool for specific purposes and modifying technique by body area. Researchers regard this flexible, goal-directed tool use as evidence that cattle can manipulate their environment and solve problems, expanding examples of animal tool use beyond primates and certain marine mammals.

Read at WIRED