More intelligent than expected Veronika the cow amazes researchers
Veronika the Brown Swiss cow can use a broom to scratch various parts of her body. This is considered a tool use - an ability that cattle were not previously known to have.
This calls into question the previous assessment of the cognitive abilities of cattle, as scientists from the Research Institute for Human-Animal Interaction in Vienna, funded by the Swiss Messerli Foundation, report in a study published on Monday in the journal "Current Biology".
"For a long time, it was almost automatically assumed that cows are stupid," said study leader Alice Auersperg in an interview with the Keystone-SDA news agency. However, the common mockery "stupid cow" is being shaken by the study.
Initial doubts
Following the publication of a book on animal intelligence, Auersperg received an email with a video of Veronika the cow. "We are always cautious with such videos. In times of deepfakes, you never know whether videos are real," says the researcher.
That's why the researcher and her postdoc Antonio Osuna-Mascaro traveled to the small mountain community in Carinthia, Austria, where Veronika lives. "We thought it might take a day or two to see this behavior," Auersperg said. "But we walked in this pasture, and within seconds Veronika picked up a stick with her tongue, fixed it in her mouth and started scratching herself with it."
Previously observed in chimpanzees
In the study, the researchers describe Veronika's striking flexibility. In one experiment, they gave the cow a broom. Veronika used the bristle end of the brush for the upper, thicker-skinned parts of the body, such as the back. For more sensitive lower areas such as the udder or skin flaps on the belly, however, she used the smooth end of the handle.
This differentiated approach is referred to in the study as multi-purpose tool use. According to the study, this type of behavior, in which different properties of a single object are used for different functions, has so far only been consistently documented in a comparable way in chimpanzees
However, not all tool use is the same, explained the researcher. Behavior directed towards one's own body, as Veronika showed, is therefore considered cognitively simpler than tool use directed towards the environment, such as in chimpanzees fishing for termites with sticks.
Nevertheless, Veronika's flexibility and technical finesse is impressive for a cow, the researcher emphasized.
Not all cows use tools
Veronika is a Brown Swiss cow, thousands of which can be found in Swiss barns and pastures. She is 13 years old and is not kept for agricultural production, but as a pet. According to her owner, she started picking up fallen branches and scratching herself with them when she was three or four years old.
The case of Veronika does not prove that all cows use tools, explained the researcher. But it does show that cattle could in principle have the cognitive prerequisites to do so. In conventional farming, which often offers few incentives, this potential is likely to remain hidden.
The researchers' research on social media platforms revealed further videos of cattle scratching themselves with sticks. These included both European domestic cattle (Bos taurus) such as Veronica and zebu cattle (Bos indicus). This suggests that the ability to use tools could be an older predisposition anchored in the cattle's lineage.
More genius cows wanted
For further investigations, the researchers are looking for other animals with such special abilities. "People who observe similar behavior in cows, or also in pigs, sheep or other farm animals, are asked to let us know," says the researcher.
This is because the cognitive abilities of farm animals have hardly been studied to date. "It is actually absurd that we have hardly shown any interest in these animals, of which we have so many around us," said Auersperg.
The cognitive abilities of these animals also have moral implications for the relationship between humans and animals. Intelligent animals have higher expectations of their environment. The results could therefore be relevant for the discussion on species-appropriate animal husbandry.
