science

Veronika (cow)

Veronika (cow) is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Veronika (cow) rather than just read about it. In short: Veronika (born 2012 or 2013) is a pet Braunvieh cow in the Austrian town of Nötsch im Gailtal. She became known in January 2026 after being observed using tools to scratch herself.

Key takeaways

Veronika (cow) belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Veronika (cow) to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Veronika (cow) from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Veronika (born 2012 or 2013) is a pet Braunvieh cow in the Austrian town of Nötsch im Gailtal. She became known in January 2026 after being observed using tools to scratch herself. The incident has been described as the first documented case of cattle using tools, and has led scientists to reassess the intelligence of cows.

Life Veronika, a brown cow, was born in 2012 or 2013 and lives in the Austrian town of Nötsch im Gailtal, near the Italian border. She is kept as a pet by Witgar Wiegele, a farmer and baker. Veronika started playing with branches that had fallen off trees years before the study was published in 2026, and worked out in about 2016 how to use them as tools to scratch herself. Wiegele has also reported that Veronika can recognise the voices of her family members and runs over to them when they call for her.

Research and tool use

After cognitive biologist Alice Auersperg found video recordings of Veronika using tools, she and her postdoctoral student Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaró travelled by car to Nötsch im Gailtal to study the cow and did so for two weeks. They gave her a broom and she would pick it up, using her tongue to reposition it until firmly holding it with her teeth. The cow would move the broom around by moving her head, and would use the broom to scratch regions of her body that were normally unreachable to her. She would use the bristles to scratch the tough parts of her skin and would use the wooden handle of the broom to more carefully scratch the softer parts of her: the udder and underbelly. The researchers initially thought that this was a mistake, Veronika picking up the wrong side of the broom, but came to the conclusion that Veronika appears to do it on purpose. The study was published in the journal Current Biology in January 2026. It described the behaviour as the first documented use of a tool by a cow. The lead author of the study, Antonio J. Osuna-Mascaró, has written that "What this tells us is that cows have the potential to innovate tool use, and we have ignored this fact for thousands of years ... There are around 1.5 billion heads of cattle in the world, and humans have lived with them for at least 10,000 years. It's shocking that we're only discovering this now." As of January 2026, the authors plan on further studying Veronika's behaviour and request contact from people who have observed farm animals using tools. Before the study, chimpanzees and humans were the only mammals known to use tools for multiple purposes. The authors do not believe that Veronika is an extremely intelligent cow, but instead believe that cows have always been capable of tool use and that humans have not noticed this ability. While the cause of Veronika's learning to use the tools is unknown, Osuna-Mascaró has said that the cow's owner "provid[ed] the special conditions that enabled Veronika to express herself". The owner gave the cow rakes and sticks which allowed her to improve her ability to use them. Veronika is 13 years old as of 2026, much older than what most farm animals live to, possibly giving her more time to develop the skill since acquiring it about a decade earlier. Farm animals also often live in places where they cannot interact with and manipulate objects, such as in factory farms.

Reaction Jill Pruetz, a primatologist at Texas State University, has said that "I am not completely surprised that cattle can use tools—after living in close proximity to my two cows for about seven years now, I have a lot more respect for bovine intelligence!" Scientific American has paraphrased further comments from Pruetz, saying that the "paper illustrates the need for enrichment for the welfare of cattle". Biologist Marc Bekoff saw Veronica's behaviour as a clear example of tool-use.

See also "Cow tools", a 1982 The Far Side cartoon List of individual bovines

Notes

References

Further reading Osuna-Mascaró, Antonio J.; Auersperg, Alice M. I. (19 January 2026). "Flexible use of a multi-purpose tool by a cow". Current Biology. 36 (2): R44–R45. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2025.11.059. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 41558466.

External links Media related to Veronika (cow) at Wikimedia Commons 'The story of Veronika is truly mind-blowing,' researcher says on cow's tool use, 2026 video on France 24

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Veronika (cow)

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Veronika (cow) claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Veronika (cow) before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Veronika (cow) ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Veronika (cow)

In research: Veronika (cow) appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Veronika (cow) in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Veronika (cow) is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s animal births, Individual animals in Austria, Individual cows, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Veronika (cow) outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Veronika (cow) in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Veronika (cow) means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Veronika (cow) out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Veronika (cow) in simple terms?

Veronika (born 2012 or 2013) is a pet Braunvieh cow in the Austrian town of Nötsch im Gailtal. She became known in January 2026 after being observed using tools to scratch herself.

Why does Veronika (cow) matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Veronika (cow)?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Veronika (cow).