Austrian Study Confirms Cows Use Tools: A Breakthrough in Animal Intelligence

Hobby farmer Anthea Harrison says she is not surprised by new scientific research that suggests cows are intelligent enough to use tools to scratch themselves. Her comments follow an Austrian study documenting a cow named Veronika using a tool. Researchers say the finding could encourage farmers and scientists to take a closer look at everyday livestock behaviour. Ms Harrison — who operates the Echo Farm tourist attraction on the outskirts of Mount Gambier in South Australia — says the intelligence of her animals has been apparent since she took over the property. "[Cattle] have an intelligence which I would say is equivalent to a pet dog," she said. "I haven't seen them using a man-made tool, but they are very resourceful … they look at what is in their paddock and make use of what is there." Ms Harrison said she was forced to reinforce the gates on the property after her highland cross, Bonnie, learnt to open them. Veronika the tool-using cow The research was conducted by cognitive biologists Antonio Osuna-Mascaró and Alice Auersperg, from the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Veronika, a 13-year-old Swiss brown cow, lives in one of the world's most beautiful locations. "The owner is a very nice baker in Carinthia, living in a very idyllic mountain village, as you would probably imagine Austria would look like from The Sound Of Music," Dr Auersperg said. The researchers became interested after Veronika's owner, Witgar Wiegele, sent them a video while they were searching for examples of spontaneous tool use in animals. The footage showed Veronika scratching herself with a brush, prompting the scientists to visit in person. "As a scientist, you have to be very careful, because we don't just believe anecdotes," Dr Auersperg said. The researchers needed to test if the behaviour was targeted and whether it was flexible. Researchers surprised by results Travelling to the village, the researchers expected a long wait. Instead, Veronika immediately picked up the brush. "She picked it up … using her tongue like it was a hand, pulling the tongue back in, fixing the stick horizontally in her mouth, turning her head and scratching her rear side. "It was absolutely amazing, because we hadn't expected [it] to be that fast." Veronika's ability surpassed what the researchers expected after demonstrating she could use different ends of the tool depending on which area of her body she intended to scratch. "After a while, we recognised a pattern and this was not the result of an error, this was a meaningful use of the handle end of the stick," Dr Osuna-Mascaró said. "She actually outperformed our hypothesis." The researchers do not believe Veronika is unusually intelligent, but they suspect her conditions as a pet with plenty of enrichment opportunities have allowed her to develop the skill. "We don't think Veronika is [a] bovine Einstein," Dr Auersperg said. "She's also very old, so she's been given a long life … the level of perfection she has now probably took her years to accomplish." Call for more research Dr Auersperg said livestock animals remained "habitually understudied" when it came to behaviour and cognition. "There is a bias in them only being studied for production … here is this animal that basically stands in any village that we live in and we have only observed [tool use] now," she said. That is a sentiment Ms Harrison shares. "Farm animals are much smarter than they get credit for," she said. "Visitors to the farm are always surprised by what they find."