By Tim Binnall
Researchers in Austria have documented what is believed to be the first-known case of a cow demonstrating tool use. The fantastic finding reportedly came about when farmer Witgar Wiegele noticed that his beloved bovine, Veronika, had a penchant for scratching itches with sticks that she manipulated with her mouth. After a decade of marveling at the cow's unusual behavior, he sent a video of her in action to cognitive biologist Alice Auersperg of Vienna's University of Veterinary Medicine. "When I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was not accidental," the scientist said, "this was a meaningful example of tool use in a species that is rarely considered from a cognitive perspective.”
Curious to learn more about the cow's behavior, Auersperg and colleague Antonio Osuna-Mascaró ventured to Wiegel's farm, where they conducted a series of tests with Veronika to see just how extensive her tool use was. To their profound surprise, when the scientists placed a deck brush in different positions in front of the creature, she flexibly utilized the object to achieve different results. Specifically, they observed Veronika using the brush end of the tool for larger areas, such as her back, and the more precise pole end for her lower body. Over the course of multiple trials, the cow's behavior was consistent, indicating that it had developed what Osuna-Mascaró described as "genuinely flexible tool use."
Veronika's backscratching constitutes the first documented instance of tool use in cows, and, remarkably, the multipurpose utilization of an object has only previously been demonstrated by humans and chimpanzees. As one might imagine, the creature's behavior has given researchers pause when it comes to bovine intelligence. To that end, in light of how Veronika had been using tools for a decade, Auersperg mused that previous assumptions about livestock abilities "may reflect gaps in observation rather than genuine cognitive limits." The researchers now hope to gain a better understanding of the factors that led to the cow adopting tool use and whether any other similar creatures might also scratch their itches in the same way.