Veronika Cow shocks scientists by using a tool
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The 13-year-old Swiss Brown is the first cow to show the ability to use tools, scratching itself with a deck brush and even switching from the bristled end to the smooth end for sensitive areas.
A pet cow in Austria started using a broom to scratch herself — the first ever documented case of bovine tool use. For the first time ever, a cow has been documented not only using a tool but selecting which part to use when scratching at different parts of her body.
Veronika, a cow living in an idyllic mountain village in the Austrian countryside, has spent years perfecting the art of scratching herself with sticks, rakes, and deck brushes. Now that scientists have discovered her, she has the distinction of the first cow known to use tools.
The unexpected observation of a cow using a broom to scratch herself isn't necessarily surprising, but it expands our knowledge about the biodiversity of tooling.