Meet Veronika, the tool-using cow
Veronika uses sticks to scratch herself, suggesting scientists have underestimated cow cognition
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/01/meet-veronika-the-tool-using-cow/?utm_brand=arstechnica&utm_social-type=owned&utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social
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@arstechnica don't give her a keyboard or devs will fear their job to be taken by her. We devs are fragile these days 😆
#govegan btw.
so, does it make you smarter to drink milk from Veronika ?
@arstechnica
She's a pet, and quietly demonstrating a level of intelligence previously unrecognised, yet is called "livestock". Tell me the article was written by a carnist without mentioning meat consumption in the article.
@arstechnica @Dio9sys @left_adjoint smdh when they find out what we've always known
I'm already getting tired of this cow, everybody is talking about the cow, not the elephant in the room but the cow with a broomstick. It's MLK day, it's Blue Monday and we are marveling at a cow. What a week huh?
RE: https://mastodon.social/@arstechnica/115922605916049706
@arstechnica what surprises me is that this hasn't been picked up before.
If I go search for 'cow using stick' I can find at least two other videos other videos
one on reddit from 2024: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cows/comments/1bj08z4/he_likes_to_itch_his_tummy_with_sticks/
and one from 6 years ago of a bull using a stick to scratch 'an itch' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfY4rpwAQfQ
bit blunt to say perhaps, but the biggest discovery to me is that humans are capable of recognizing and acknowledging intelligence in anything other than themselves 😅
@arstechnica She would be a better US president than Trump.
@arstechnica
@studioplantaardig
Moest meteen aan jullie afleveringen over gedrag van dieren denken. Over koeien hebben jullie natuurlijk ook al gepraat.
@arstechnica whoever wrote this hasn't seen cow scratchers
@arstechnica Having grown up with animals and many cows… I can attest to this failings in human cognition 😹
