Environment / Agriculture
Veronika the Cow shocks scientists by using a tool

The 13-year-old bovine is crushing stereotypes of bovine intelligence.

Laura Baisas
Published Jan 19, 2026 11:00 AM EST


Veronika scratches her back while resting.
Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró

The smart animal club continues to add new members, and the newest might surprise you. A pet cow in Austria named Veronika picks up sticks with her mouth and uses them to scratch herself—which a team at University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna in Austria believes is tool use. Veronika and her ground-breaking scratching are detailed in a study published today in Current Biology.

“The findings highlight how assumptions about livestock intelligence may reflect gaps in observation rather than genuine cognitive limits,” Alice Auersperg, a study co-author and cognitive biologist at the university, said in a statement.


Veronika uses different scratching techniques on different body areas. Image: Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró.

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The wonderful Veronika. Image: Antonio J. Osuna Mascaró.

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