An Austrian cow called Veronika has been filmed using a garden broom to scratch herself on the buttocks.
The behaviour, described in Current Biology, represents the first documented example of tool use in cattle and suggests that we may have been under-estimating cattle for a very long time.
Tool use, where an animal deliberately manipulates an object to achieve a goal, is thought to be a sign of intelligence.
Once thought unique to humans, a growing but elite list of animals are now known to use tools. Sea otters use rocks to bash open shellfish on their chests. Foraging dolphins use sea sponges to protect their snouts. New Caledonian crows make hooks to help catch insects. Cows now join that list.
Veronika is a pet Swiss brown cow, owned by an organic farmer called Witgar Wiegele. Over 10 years ago, Wiegele noticed that Veronika would occasionally pick up sticks in her mouth and used them to scratch herself. He sent a video of the behaviour to biologist Alice Auersperg at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, who says, “when I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was not accidental.”
Intrigued to find out more, Auersperg and a colleague travelled to meet Veronika and set her some tests. In a series of controlled trials, they presented a long-handled deck brush on the ground in a random orientation. Then they recorded which end she picked up, and which body part she targeted. Across repeated sessions, they found that her choices were both consistent and appropriate.
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When scratching broad, firm areas, such as her back and buttocks, she preferred the bristled end of the brush. When targeting softer, more sensitive regions of her lower body, she switched to use the long, smooth end.
She also adjusted how she manoeuvred the tool. Upper-body scratching involved wide, forceful movements, whilst lower-body scratching was slower, more careful and highly controlled.
“Veronika is not just using an object to scratch herself,” says fellow scientist Antonio Osuna-Mascaró. “She uses different parts of the same tool for different purposes and applies different techniques depending on the function of the tool and the body region.”
This shows, not just that cows can use tools, but that they can use them in a flexible, multi-functional way. Until now, the only other animals thought able to do this, were humans and chimpanzees. So, cows really are much smarter than we give them credit for.
Top image: Veronika the cow using a stick. Credit: Antonio J Osuna Mascaró
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