Agriculture

Austrian Cow Becomes First Documented to Use Tools

Are cows secretly intelligent beings denied opportunity, or are they rightfully excluded from intelligence discussions?

Published JAN 20

Austrian Cow Becomes First Documented to Use Tools

Story

Above: A generic image of a cow at a Green Week trade fair in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 19, 2026. Image credit: Nadja Wohlleben/Getty Images

The Facts

Veronika, a 13-year-old Swiss Brown cow living in Austria, has been documented as the first cow to use tools, according to researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. She manipulates a deck brush with her tongue and teeth to scratch hard-to-reach areas of her body.
The New York Times
Observador
Cell Press
The cow uses different ends of the broom for different purposes, applying the bristled end to thick-skinned areas like her back and the smooth handle to softer regions such as her udder and belly. This multipurpose tool use has previously been documented consistently only in chimpanzees.
Science News
GB News
Researchers Alice Auersperg and Antonio Osuna-Mascar conducted 70 trials over multiple days, placing a deck brush on the ground in random orientations. They recorded 76 instances of Veronika using the tool to scratch herself, demonstrating consistent and goal-directed behavior.
Earth.com
The New York Times
Veronika lives as a pet on an organic farm owned by Witgar Wiegele rather than in typical production conditions. Her owner first noticed her using sticks to scratch herself approximately 10 years ago, and her technique has improved over time.
Smithsonian Magazine
9News Australia
CNN
The researchers believe Veronika's unusual living conditions, including her long lifespan, daily human contact and access to a rich environment with manipulable objects, created favorable circumstances for her tool-using abilities to develop and be expressed.
Cell Press
GB News
Scientists suggest that cattle intelligence has been underestimated and that most cows lack opportunities to demonstrate cognitive abilities due to impoverished environments in typical husbandry systems. The findings were published in the journal Current Biology on Monday.
Science News
Smithsonian Magazine

Sources Split

LEFT

CENTER

RIGHT

ESTAB
CRIT

CENTER

PRO
ESTAB

The Spin

Narrative A

Cattle have been grossly underestimated and dismissed as unintelligent when the real problem is that factory farming denies them the opportunity to develop their cognitive abilities. Veronika's tool use proves cows possess sophisticated intelligence that emerges when given enriching environments and long lifespans instead of industrial confinement. The absurdity isn't a cow using tools — it's humans never recognizing bovine intelligence despite living alongside cattle for thousands of years.

The New York Times

Narrative B

Veronika isn't a "gifted" cow — her abilities developed from specific circumstances like living freely, never being milked and losing her mother's touch. The cow's tool use emerged from practical need to relieve horsefly bites, not some revelation about cattle intelligence. Despite millennia of domestication, cattle remain excluded from animal intelligence discussions for good reason.

Observador