Veronika The Cow’s Record Scratch

Veronika was 4 years old when she picked up her first tool: a tree branch, found in her pasture in the town of Nötsch im Gailtal in the Austrian alps. Veronika lives with Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker who keeps the Braunvieh cow as a pet. Veronika's meadow is downright idyllic, nestled among blue lakes and snow-capped mountains and carpeted in grass green enough to make Maria von Trapp hit a whistle note. Here, Veronika nosed through the grass for twigs, which she picked up and used to scratch herself, because she was itchy.

Wiegele never taught Veronika how to scratch herself with a stick. Rather, the cow appears to have taught herself. Veronika is now 13, and Wiegele says she's gotten better over the years. A new paper in Current Biology tested Veronika's stick skills with a wooden broom and found the cow could manipulate the tool for different scratching tasks. The paper is culturally noteworthy for introducing people to Veronika—who is by all accounts a wonderful cow—and scientifically noteworthy because it marks the first documented case of tool use in cows. (Cow tools, if you will.) The authors of the paper, citing Veronika's "anticipatory grip adjustments and technique diversity," conclude that the cow's scratching represents flexible tool use. Before we go further, please enjoy a small sampling of Veronika's anticipatory grip adjustments and technique diversity.