Post

The New York Times
@nytimes.com

A pet cow named Veronika can scratch her back with a broom, the first scientifically documented case of tool use in cows. “Perhaps the absurd thing was not the absurdity of a cow using tools," one researcher said, "but the absurdity of us never thinking that a cow might be intelligent.”

nyti.msCows Use Tools, Too, New Study FindsA pet cow named Veronika can scratch her own back with a broom — the first scientifically documented case of tool use in cows, researchers say.

105 reposts496 likes

G. Smith
@therealgsmith.com

Perhaps those scientists should watch more videos online and then perhaps they's realise that most animals are quite intelligent. Perhaps.

John Heaner
@johnheaner.bsky.social

Not necessarily in Texas, but in Switzerland I have seen scratching posts for milk cows, provided for their comfort. The Swiss cows know exactly how to use the tools provided. So how is this different? Because the cow can bite a tool? The cow's bite is irrelevant. The itch would be scratched. ;)

kiwiguy1.bsky.social
@kiwiguy1.bsky.social

I had a goat that used to do this all the time. In fact she not only used the tool, she made it, by going to an old woodpile, finding a split board, then tearing off a splinter about a metre long, then scratching her back with it.

Charles Ramcharan
@mokojumbee.bsky.social

As a biologist, I should point out that all aspects of human emotions, personality, and intellect are common in other animals. We just do it at an elevated level… and feel really smug about that.

TitleOS (They/Them) 🏳️‍🌈
@titleos.dev

Serious question, always been curious about this, I've heard primates that have learned sign language have never asked an unprompted "why" question. Why do you think that is? Is a larger sense of self required (perhaps a more developed DMN) or do you think it's time with language dev or something?

Charles Ramcharan
@mokojumbee.bsky.social

I don’t know much about primate language (but I did meet Jane Goodall twice!!). From what I’ve seen, they have just as much a sense of identity and self awareness as we do. They also have mirror neurons which means empathy is built in.