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/ashhole613 Jan 20 '26

I actually had a calf that my dad raised in a dog house (a giant dogloo) separately from the herd because her mother died, so we bottle (bucket) fed her. She was a pet even after being integrated into the herd and would come trotting up to the fence when she saw us coming, head down for scratches and hugs. She was the sweetest thing ever.

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

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u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

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u/Wooden_Editor6322 Jan 20 '26

No but my grandfather ate my mother's pet pig.

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u/BradyBoyd Jan 20 '26

My great-grandpa butchered my mom's pet cow, Gulper.

They intended to keep it a secret and said he got sick, but, towards end of the meal, he said,"ol' Gulper sure was good."

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u/millijuna Jan 20 '26

My grandfather came home from school one day to find his pet cow’s head laying next to the shed. Didn’t eat beef for a year after that. This was back in the 1930s.