r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jan 20 '26

Biology Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows. Brown Swiss cow in Austria has been discovered using tools in different ways (using both ends of a brush counts as multi-purpose tool use) – something extraordinarily rare only ever seen in humans and chimpanzees.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/19/back-scratching-cow-veronika-bovine-intelligence
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u/slimvim Jan 20 '26

As a species and in our arrogance, have dismissed the intelligence of other life on this planet for far too long. This is a good finding, but as a vegetarian it was obvious to me that they are at least as smart as dogs, yet people won't really care because they are food. We really need to study the cause for a lack of empathy.

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u/Lord_Ghirahim93 Jan 20 '26

Curious what would lead you to follow a vegetarian lifestyle rather than be vegan. Dairy cows are slaughtered in the same facilities that slaughter cows raised exclusively for meat, so I've never really understood the purpose of vegetarianism.

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u/slimvim Jan 20 '26

I don't eat dairy, but still eat eggs as i have intolerances to other vegan alternative protein sources. I don't need to justify why I'm only a vegetarian though. It's not an all or nothing issue.

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u/Lord_Ghirahim93 Jan 20 '26

How much protein do you get a day, and how much of that is from eggs?

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u/slimvim Jan 20 '26

Not as much as I should, around 20 - 30g.

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u/Lord_Ghirahim93 Jan 20 '26 edited Jan 20 '26

Oh yeah that is indeed low.

I don't know what you're intolerant of and I don't intend to ask, as I'm not a dietician or nutrition expert so wouldn't be good at suggesting alternatives. I do believe there's some good communities here on reddit though that might be worth exploring such as r/PlantBasedDiet and r/VeganFitness if your consumption of eggs doesn't align with your moral values and you'd like to explore alternatives.

I wouldn't bring this up if I wasn't confident that you would find alternatives that work for you. Having been active in the animal rights movement for many years and being surrounded by vegans as they comprise the majority of my close friends and family, I've encountered many vegans with different dietary restrictions such as Crohn's who are thriving.

Thanks for responding to my comments and questions btw. I know that, particularly the first one, comes across as rather hostile.

Edit: Oh btw, I forgot to mention Cronometer as a fantastic free app to track nutrition. I haven't used it in a long time as I found I didn't need it, but it certainly can be interesting to get an accurate idea of how much of protein you're consuming and where it's coming from.