This cow in Austria learned to use sticks as a scratching tool. Scientists say it changes what we know about cattle

For years, Veronika seemed like an ordinary cow living on a farm in Austria.

Then researchers watched a video of her doing something scientists had never documented in cattle before: using a fallen tree branch as a tool to scratch an itch.

Veronika, a Swiss Brown cow living in Nötsch im Gailtal, Austria, had apparently figured out that sticks could help her reach parts of her body she could not easily scratch herself.


And she wasn't simply bumping into a branch by chance.

She would deliberately pick up a stick with her mouth and use it to scratch specific parts of her body. When researchers later tested her behavior with a deck brush, she repeatedly demonstrated the same ability.

The discovery, reported in Current Biology, offered an unusual glimpse into the problem-solving abilities of an animal that has long been underestimated.

The cow that figured out how to use a stick

Veronika's owner had reportedly noticed her unusual behavior over many years.

When animal behavior researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna saw a video of the cow using a stick to scratch herself, they recognized that something unusual was happening.

They wanted to know whether Veronika was simply playing with objects—or whether she understood that the object could serve a useful purpose.

So they designed controlled experiments.

Researchers placed a deck brush in front of Veronika in different orientations. Each time, she used her tongue to pick it up and positioned it according to the part of her body she wanted to scratch.

That distinction was important.

Tool use isn't simply about touching or carrying an object. The animal needs to use an object to accomplish a purpose that would otherwise be difficult or impossible.

Veronika appeared to understand exactly that.

She even used different ends of the brush

The most surprising part came when researchers noticed that Veronika didn't use the brush randomly.

She appeared to choose different ends depending on where she wanted to scratch.

For areas of her upper body, where the skin is thicker, she used the bristled side of the brush.

For more delicate areas, including around her udder, she used the blunt handle.

Researchers also observed differences in how she moved the tool.

For her upper body, she could use a scrubbing motion. When targeting areas that required greater precision, she made more controlled movements.

In other words, the cow wasn't merely holding an object.

She was adjusting how she used it depending on the job.

Why scientists found a cow using a tool so surprising

Humans have lived alongside cattle for thousands of years. There are also roughly 1.5 billion cattle around the world.

Yet this kind of behavior had apparently escaped scientific documentation in cattle.

Lead researcher Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaró said the discovery was surprising precisely because humans have spent so much time around these animals.

The finding raises a bigger question: How much animal intelligence have humans overlooked simply because we weren't looking for it?

Cows are often stereotyped as slow or unintelligent animals. But researchers studying animal cognition have increasingly found evidence that farm animals can learn, remember, solve problems and interact with their surroundings in sophisticated ways.

Veronika's behavior adds another intriguing example.

She didn't make the tool—but that doesn't make it less impressive

One distinction is important.

Veronika did not manufacture the stick or brush herself.

But scientists say an animal does not necessarily need to create a tool for its behavior to qualify as tool use.

What mattered was that she intentionally manipulated an external object to achieve a specific goal.

That makes her behavior particularly interesting because cows don't have hands or opposable thumbs.

Instead, Veronika had to use her mouth and tongue to pick up, position and manipulate the object.

Researchers observed her changing her grip depending on which end of the brush she needed and which part of her body she wanted to reach.

Other animals have already changed the way we think about intelligence

Veronika's behavior is part of a much larger shift in how scientists understand animal minds.

In 1960, Jane Goodall's observations of chimpanzees using tools helped challenge the idea that sophisticated tool use was uniquely human.

Later research revealed impressive problem-solving abilities in birds as well.

African grey parrots and corvids, including crows and their relatives, have demonstrated cognitive abilities once considered far beyond the capabilities of animals with relatively small brains.

Chimpanzees can even use different ends of a tool for different purposes—for example, manipulating termite mounds and extracting insects.

Veronika's behavior is considerably simpler, researchers acknowledge.

But the basic lesson is similar: an animal doesn't need human-like hands or a human-sized brain to figure out how to use an object.

Is Veronika the only cow that can do this?

Probably not.

That may be one of the most interesting implications of the discovery.

Researchers don't necessarily view Veronika as a one-off genius cow. Instead, her behavior could indicate that similar abilities exist in other cattle but have simply gone unnoticed.

Farm animals are generally observed differently from wild animals. Scientists have spent enormous amounts of time studying tool use in primates, birds and other wild species, while comparatively little attention has been paid to the everyday problem-solving behavior of animals living alongside humans.

Veronika may therefore be less of an exception than she first appears.

Her surroundings could also have played a role. Living in an environment with human interaction and opportunities to encounter different objects may have given her more chances to discover that a branch or brush could be useful.

A simple itch led to a much bigger discovery

At first glance, Veronika's behavior sounds almost comical: a cow picks up a stick because her back itches.

But that simple act may reveal something much more important.

She encountered a problem.

She found an object.

She discovered that the object could solve the problem.

And she learned how to manipulate it more effectively.

That's the kind of flexible behavior that makes scientists interested in animal cognition.

Researchers now want to learn whether other cows, bulls and farm animals can demonstrate similar abilities. They are also encouraging people to report unusual examples of animals using objects to accomplish specific tasks.

After all, humans may have spent thousands of years living alongside cattle without fully noticing what they were capable of.

Veronika didn't suddenly become intelligent when scientists discovered her.

Scientists simply started paying attention.