The moment Antonio Osuna-Mascaró and Alice Auersperg watched a video of Veronika the cow using a branch to scratch her back, they were intrigued and immediately decided to meet her. The cognitive biologists from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, who specialize in studying tool usage in non-human animals, were fascinated by this uncommon behavior in a cow. They traveled for five hours from Vienna to the south of Austria to meet Veronika.
Veronika impressed the researchers with her adept use of a broom to alleviate her itches, showcasing various techniques. Their study, published in the journal Current Biology, challenges traditional beliefs about cow intelligence. Veronika, a 13-year-old brown Swiss cow residing in Nötsch, Austria, showed remarkable dexterity and innovation, debunking misconceptions about cow intellect.
Veronika’s owner, Witgar Wiegele, noticed her using branches to scratch herself around nine years ago. Over time, she learned to select short branches for itches near her head and longer ones for harder-to-reach areas. When presented with a stick by Wiegele, Veronika swiftly demonstrated her skills to the scientists, impressing them greatly.
The researchers aimed to evaluate if Veronika’s scratching met the criteria for “flexible tooling,” which involves using an object to extend one’s reach while applying force to a target. By giving her a broom, they observed how Veronika intuitively selected the bristled side for scratching and adapted her tool usage based on the body area being scratched.
Benjamin Beck, a retired scientist from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, acknowledged Veronika’s flexible tool use as remarkable. While tool use in animals remains a topic of debate among scientists, the documented instances, including dolphins using shells to catch fish and elephants using hoses for showers, highlight the widespread nature of this behavior.
The increasing documentation of tool use in animals challenges prior beliefs about animal cognition. From crows crafting tools to suit their needs to chimpanzees using insects for medicinal purposes, the animal kingdom’s capabilities continue to surprise researchers. Mascaró emphasizes the importance of studying tool use in common animals, shedding light on their cognitive abilities often underestimated due to human exploitation.
