Viennese scientists have documented a pet cow named Veronika using a stick as a tool to scratch itself, representing the first-ever example of tool use by an animal previously assumed to lack the intellectual capacity for it.
The research team behind the unexpected discovery said the observations expand the list of animals capable of tool use beyond humans and chimpanzees. They are also asking the public to submit videos of animals potentially using tools to further expand the list beyond known tool-using species.
Video of a Pet Cow Using Tools Leads to an Unexpected Scientific Discovery
According to a statement detailing the cow that uses tools, Veronika is a Swiss Brown cow kept as a companion animal rather than for milk or as livestock. Approximately ten years ago, Veronika’s owner, organic farmer Witgar Wiegle, who regards the cow as part of the family, noticed that she would occasionally pick up sticks and use them to scratch parts of her body. Wiegle even recorded the unexpected behavior. When Alice Auersperg, a cognitive biologist at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, saw the video, she suspected that Veronika was indeed using the stick as a tool.
“When I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was not accidental,” the researcher said.
Instead, the veterinary researcher suspected Veronika scratching herself with a stick represented a ‘meaningful example’ of tool use from a species she described as “rarely considered from a cognitive perspective.”
To confirm or refute their suspicions, Auersperg and her colleague, Antonio Osuna-Mascaró, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, visited Veronika in person. With Weigle’s approval, the researchers conducted a series of behavioral tests to assess the cow’s tool-use capabilities.
According to the study, the tests began with placing a deck brush on the ground in a “random” orientation. Next, the researchers recorded which end the cow selected and which portion of her body she targeted for scratching.
After several sessions, the team confirmed that the animal’s choices of brush end “were consistent and functionally appropriate” for the region of her body she targeted for a scratch. For example, when Veronika wanted to scratch broader, firmer areas of her body, like her back, she preferred using the bristled end of the deck brush. Conversely, the ingenious pet cow switched to the smoother end of the brush stick when targeting the softer areas of her lower body.
Along with tool selection, the researchers observed Veronika adjust her brush technique based on the area being scratched. When scratching her upper body, the Swiss Brown cow employed wide, forceful strokes. When she wanted to scratch her more sensitive lower body areas, the brilliant Bovidae employed “slower, more careful, and highly controlled” movements.
“Veronika is not just using an object to scratch herself,” Osuna-Mascaró explained. “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.”
How Veronika’s Behavior Meets the Definition of Tool Use
Scientists typically define tool use as the intentional manipulation of an external object to achieve a goal via mechanical means. Auersperg and Osuna-Mascaró believe Veronika’s intentional use of sticks to scratch herself clearly meets that threshold. However, the researchers also suggest that the clever cow’s selection and brushing choices represent a more complex example of flexible, multi-purpose tool use since employing different ends of the brush and utilizing varied crushing patterns achieved “distinct functional outcomes.”
“Because she is using the tool on her own body, this represents an egocentric form of tool use, which is generally considered less complex than tool use directed at external objects,” Osuna-Mascaró explained.
While some compelling research suggests that crows and other avians may possess this rare cognitive ability, the researchers note that this complex level of tool use has been documented “convincingly” only in chimpanzees. When comparing Veronika’s tool-using capabilities to those of humans and chimps, the study authors noted that a cow’s physiology imposes clear physical constraints since she can only manipulate tools with her mouth.
“What is striking is how she compensates for these limitations,” Osuna-Mascaró said, “anticipating the outcome of her actions and adjusting her grip and movements accordingly.”
The researcher also said demonstrating that a cow can engage in “genuinely flexible tool use” expands the taxonomic range of animals known to possess this capacity.
How Did This Cow Become So Smart?
Even if all cows possess the latent ability for flexible, multi-purpose tool use, the researchers suggest the animal’s unique circumstances may have played a critical role in the emergence of this ability. For example, most cows do not live nearly as long as the beloved fifteen-year-old pet. Even fewer cows live in the type of open, complex environment where they can interact with a variety of manipulatable objects as Veronika does.
“Her long lifespan, daily contact with humans, and access to a rich physical landscape likely created favorable conditions for exploratory and innovative behavior,” they explained in a statement announcing the findings.
Up next, the team plans to evaluate which environmental and social conditions may spur such unexpectedly complex behavior in livestock species such as cows. They’re also asking the public to document any similar cases of complex animal behavior, especially in livestock animals, and to share that documentation with them.
“Because we suspect this ability may be more widespread than currently documented, we invite readers who have observed cows or bulls using sticks or other handheld objects for purposeful actions to contact us,” Osuna-Mascaró said.
If the researchers do uncover more examples of cows using tools, Auersperg suggests that their study may not have found the only cow capable of this behavior, but instead may have simply exposed a shortage of scientists looking for these complex behaviors in the right place.
“The findings highlight how assumptions about livestock intelligence may reflect gaps in observation rather than genuine cognitive limits,” she explained.
“Perhaps the real absurdity lies not in imagining a tool-using cow, but in assuming such a thing could never exist,” the researchers concluded.
The study “Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow” was published in Current Biology.
Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.