Austrian Cow Becomes First Documented to Use Tools

Are cows secretly intelligent beings denied opportunity, or are they rightfully excluded from intelligence discussions?

Published 3 days ago

Austrian Cow Becomes First Documented to Use Tools

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Above: A generic image of a cow at a Green Week trade fair in Berlin, Germany, on Jan. 19, 2026. Image credit: Nadja Wohlleben/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

Cattle have been grossly underestimated and dismissed as unintelligent when the real problem is that factory farming denies them the opportunity to develop their cognitive abilities. Veronika's tool use proves cows possess sophisticated intelligence that emerges when given enriching environments and long lifespans instead of industrial confinement. The absurdity isn't a cow using tools — it's humans never recognizing bovine intelligence despite living alongside cattle for thousands of years.

The New York Times

Narrative B

Veronika isn't a "gifted" cow — her abilities developed from specific circumstances like living freely, never being milked and losing her mother's touch. The cow's tool use emerged from practical need to relieve horsefly bites, not some revelation about cattle intelligence. Despite millennia of domestication, cattle remain excluded from animal intelligence discussions for good reason.

Observador

Metaculus Prediction

There's a 50% chance that the milk of cows whose DNA is intentionally altered to be hornless will be for sale in the United States by December 2032, according to the Metaculus prediction community.