Cows can really use sophisticated tools

IIf cows could use tools, imagine the scenes that would unfold: cutting wires to escape their pastures; Extracting themselves from the milking machines. Or remove strings on hay bales. Of course, cows have never been seen doing any of these things. But a He studies Published today in Current biology It shows a cow named Veronica effectively using a surface broom as a scratching tool, meeting the scientific definition of tool use as “the manipulation of an external object to achieve a goal via a mechanical interface.”

Veronica is a brown Swiss cow (Boss Taurus) is kept as farm facilities. In a series of 10 experiments, researchers from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna presented it with a surface broom lying on the ground in a random direction. On each trial, they recorded which end of the brush she chose and how she used it. Veronica manipulated the broom with her mouth, placing it under her tongue, then holding it in the gaps between her incisors and molars to get a firm grip.

Veronica skillfully used the deck brush to scratch her itch, manipulating it to target different areas. Across randomized trials, she chose the rough end for scratching her hind quarters but switched to the stick end for softer lower body areas. Through repeated experiments, she made consistent choices about how to use the broom. “When I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was no coincidence,” said study author and cognitive biologist Alice Auersberg. statement.

Read more: “Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours“

Veronica’s use of tools is considered “selfish” because it is directed at herself. Although simpler than “ad hoc” tool use, where the tool is directed at something outside oneself, it is nonetheless a cognitive achievement. Unlike primates, such adaptive tool use by mammals has not been reported before.

The findings suggest that the abilities of cows have been underestimated, because tool use presents “a rigorous test of cognitive flexibility,” the study authors wrote.

Perhaps this shouldn’t surprise us, since cows have been associated with humans for more than 10,000 years as domesticated animals. The researchers suggest that Veronica may have had plenty of time to experience and learn this behavior during prolonged contact with a man-made environment. Their status as a companion animal for farms may have provided more opportunities to observe cow behavior.

“The results highlight how assumptions about cattle intelligence may reflect gaps in observation rather than true cognitive limits,” Auersberg said.

What will the cows, sheep or goats do next?

Main image: Peter Hofstetter/Shutterstock

• Devin Reese

  Posted on January 19, 2026

  Devin Reese is the executive editor of natural history He is a science writer based in Alexandria, Virginia.