Veronica — a 13-year-old cow from Austria — unexpectedly made her way into scientific journals thanks to her intelligence and inventiveness. Scientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna were surprised to record the animal consciously using sticks and brushes to scratch herself.
Veronica has lived on the farm for more than ten years as a house companion. She chooses suitable objects, uses the hard part for her back and the soft part for sensitive areas. She even changes the force and style of her movements. Such flexibility in tool use is something that had previously been observed only in great apes. This is called eccentric tool use — when an animal cares for itself with the help of an external object, compensating for the lack of hands.
Unlike most of her fellow cattle, Veronica lives in conditions close to a "farmer's boutique hotel": she has plenty of human contact, freedom of movement and lots of free time. According to the scientists, this is what may have encouraged such unusual behavior. Zoologists now urge farmers to pay closer attention to their animals — there may be other undiscovered geniuses among them.
