"Witgar Wiegele, an organic farmer and baker from a small town in Carinthia near the Italian border, keeps Veronika as a pet and noticed that she occasionally played with sticks and used them to scratch her body. Wiegle, who said Veronika recognised family members' voices and hurried to meet them when they called, began playing with pieces of wood years ago, then worked out how to scratch herself with sticks."
"Armed with a deck brush, Osuna Mascaro and his colleague Alice Auersperg set about testing Veronika's skills. Through a series of field trials, the Brown Swiss proved she could not only pick up the broom, but wield it according to the job at hand. If the broom was at an awkward angle, Veronika used her tongue to reposition it before clamping it in place with her teeth."
An Austrian Brown Swiss cow named Veronika developed spontaneous tool-use by picking up sticks and a broom to scratch herself. Her owner observed voice recognition and play with wood pieces, which led to deliberate scratching techniques. Vienna biologists reviewed video evidence and conducted field trials using a deck brush. Veronika repositioned the broom with her tongue, clamped it with her teeth, and selected the bristled end for tough back skin while using the smooth handle for gentler areas such as udders and belly. The behavior demonstrates problem-solving, flexibility and targeted manipulation in bovine cognition.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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