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A tool-using bovine has researchers rethinking cow intelligence
Veronika spends her days in the idyllic pastures of southern Austria, where she lives with her family. And every now and then, she picks up a broom to scratch those hard-to-reach areas of her back.
None of that would be particularly newsworthy, except that Veronika is a brown cow. Her ability to employ tools with multiple uses leaves her in the company of only two known species: humans and chimps.
Researcher Alice Auersperg visited and studied Veronika and co-authored a paper titled "Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow" in a recent issue of Current Biology. She joins host Robin Young to talk about animal intelligence and why the broom matters.
This segment aired on February 12, 2026.