The first recorded cow that uses tools She is Veronica, a cow who lives a quiet life on a farm in Switzerland and just as you see her minding her cow business, she has just become a celebrity overnight, the entire scientific community is talking about her, because Veronica uses a brush to scratch different parts of her body, it's incredible, really.

Scratching with a brush may not seem like a big deal, but Veronica sent her species to the top of animal intelligence with one brush. Now the cows are up there with the chimpanzees, little by little we are learning to measure intelligence in more precise ways and in doing so we are getting big surprises.

This research shows us that intelligence exists in many forms and that we need to study species better to notice it. We underestimate some animals because they are small and other times because it makes us uncomfortable that they are intelligent, since they are animals that we exploit, we don't like to think that they are much more intelligent than our pets.

Veronica is a cow and she uses tools, she manipulates an external object, in this case the brush, to achieve a purpose, which is to get rid of the itch, she has to lift the brush with her tongue and she does so at a distance from the handle that allows her to reach that point she wants to scratch.

When he wants to scratch his back, he prefers the end of the brush, for the udders, he does it with the handle and when he wants to scratch his belly, he also prefers the brush, and for the tail he prefers the handle, although it is complicated.

Veronica deserves a personalized scratching tool, we have to give it to her, this cow is the only one that has been documented using a multipurpose tool, but not necessarily because she is a genius cow, but because she is one of the few cows in the world that has a good life, with lots of space, affection and a stimulating environment that allows her to develop creativity and skills.

It also helps your human guardians spend time with you and pay attention to you, I wonder how many cows have performed unimaginable intellectual feats and we haven't heard about it because no one is there to see it.