Scientists are being compelled to radically reconsider the cognitive abilities of cattle after observing a pet cow in Austria using tools with a sophistication previously unseen in livestock.
An Unlikely Pioneer in a Pastoral Idyll
The bovine prodigy, a 13-year-old Brown Swiss named Veronika, lives on an organic farm in the picturesque town of Nötsch im Gailtal, Carinthia. Her owner, Witgar Wiegele, first noticed her unusual behaviour years ago when she began playing with sticks and eventually worked out how to use them to scratch her body.
"I was naturally amazed by her extraordinary intelligence," Wiegele said, noting that Veronika also recognises family members' voices. He reflected on the broader lessons, stating, "I thought how much we could learn from animals: patience, calmness, contentment, and gentleness."
Word of Veronika's talents reached biologists in Vienna specialising in animal intelligence. Dr Antonio Osuna Mascaró from the University of Veterinary Medicine described the initial video evidence as groundbreaking. "It was a cow using an actual tool," he said, prompting an immediate field visit to Veronika's home, which he likened to a scene from The Sound of Music.
Rigorous Testing Reveals Remarkable Dexterity
Armed with a simple deck brush, Dr Osuna Mascaró and colleague Alice Auersperg conducted a series of field trials. Their findings, published in the journal Current Biology, revealed Veronika's impressive and flexible skills.
Veronika demonstrated she could not only pick up the broom but could wield it purposefully. If the tool was at an awkward angle, she used her tongue to reposition it before clamping it with her teeth. Most strikingly, she used different ends of the brush for different tasks.
She favoured the bristled end to scratch the tough skin on her back. However, for more delicate areas like her udders and belly, she switched to the smooth wooden handle, applying a gentler touch. Over seven sessions involving ten trials each, researchers recorded 76 instances of deliberate tool use.
"At the beginning I thought this was the result of a mistake," admitted Dr Osuna Mascaró. "But after a while we started to observe a pattern: Veronika indeed had a preference for using the broom end, but when she used the handle end she was doing so in a meaningful way."
Redefining Livestock Intelligence
Tool use is well-documented in species like chimpanzees, crows, and octopuses, but livestock have never been considered candidates for such sophisticated behaviour. The discovery directly challenges a long-standing cultural perception, humorously encapsulated in Gary Larson's 1982 Far Side cartoon, "Cow Tools," which depicted crudely fashioned implements.
Veronika is not crafting tools, but her ability to select, adjust, and use a tool for multiple purposes is exceptionally rare. The scientists note that, beyond humans, such multi-purpose tool use has only been convincingly shown in chimpanzees.
While Veronika's unique circumstances—her advanced age and stimulating environment—may have contributed to her development, the researchers believe her case highlights a broader, overlooked potential in cattle. "We don't believe that Veronika is the Einstein of cows," Dr Osuna Mascaró clarified, adding that other examples have emerged since their study began.
"What this tells us is that cows have the potential to innovate tool use, and we have ignored this fact for thousands of years," he said. "It's shocking that we're only discovering this now."
The study concludes that there is no evidence of an 'ominous new species of super-cow'. Instead, it suggests the real absurdity may lie in assuming such intelligent behaviour could never exist in an animal we think we know so well.
