A Bovine Backscratcher
An Austrian cow is upending what we know about how smart the animals are.
Welcome to What Could Go Right?, where there’s a newest oldest cave painting on the block.
Here at The Progress Network, we have an explicit editorial mandate not to tip over into the type of good news that feels warm and fuzzy but has little serious impact. With the national mood so grim last week, however, I had to agree with some readers who wrote in response to our last edition that we are in need of a palate cleanser.
So with that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to Veronika the cow.
Veronika is a brown cow living on a farm in Austria who uses a deck broom as a backscratcher. The 13-year-old bovine picks it up with her mouth, manipulates its positioning with her tongue, and then holds it in place with her teeth while she scratches away. But it’s more than a cute (farm) party trick; it’s the first documented case of tool use in cattle.
Until the 1960s, when primatologist Jane Goodall witnessed a chimpanzee using a twig to pull lunch from a termite mound, humans assumed we were the animal kingdom’s sole tool utilizers. Since then, tool use has been documented, scientifically and anecdotally, across a variety of species—from elephants to sea otters.
But Veronika is the first cow to demonstrate the ability. It’s an achievement separate from other animal behavior—for example, a bear scratching itself on a tree—because it meets specific criteria for tool use, such as changing the tool’s orientation.
Veronika also figured out that brush bristles are great for her back but too harsh for more sensitive areas like her udder, where she uses the end of the handle and a different motion, the kind of multipurpose tool use that has only been consistently documented in chimps. (Chimps use that lunch twig to both poke a hole in the mound and fish out the insects.) “It’s totally unexpected to see this in cattle,” study co-author Alice Auersperg told Science.
Veronika is hardly a MOONSA—er, MENSA—member. The authors suggest that her behavior stems from unusual treatment rather than extraordinary intelligence: Her owners treat her as a pet, not a farm animal. She has her own living area, room to roam, and isn’t milked; the study authors theorize that any cow with access to such a rich living environment could demonstrate the same propensity as Veronika. Indeed, recent studies of horses suggest that any domestic hoofed mammal might, too.
The authors hope that these findings will inspire scientists to reconsider animal intelligence in livestock, an area of study that has been mostly ignored. (It’s also something for us to chew on insofar as our treatment of all livestock.) “Perhaps the real absurdity,” they conclude, referencing an infamous Gary Larson cartoon, “lies not in imagining a tool-using cow, but in assuming such a thing could never exist.”
—Emma Varvaloucas
By the Numbers
78: Percent drop in malaria deaths in India since 2015, part of a larger trend toward disease control in the country
20.7M: Global EV sales in 2025, a bump of 20%
30%: Share of electricity in the EU generated by wind and solar in 2025, surpassing fossil fuels for the first time
Quick Hits
🍚 The ceasefire has reversed famine conditions in Gaza. The progress is real—commercial goods are available again in markets and aid partners are distributing water, food, and other essentials en masse—but precarious.
🏆 The world set a new record this month: longest span of time without a nuclear explosion since the atomic era began. (FWIW, calls from the Trump administration to resume nuclear testing have since been walked back.)
📉 Last year likely saw the lowest homicide rate in the US since 1900, and all seven violent crime types have fallen below prepandemic levels.
🧾 Congress has appropriated $50 billion for development and diplomacy, a budget cut far smaller than President Trump’s suggested one of 60%. If passed, it would bring global health spending back to around 2020 levels.
🌾 Adaptation technologies are outpacing climate change for farmers in Canada, who are turning out record crop yields even during a multi-year drought.
📈 For the first time, more Mexicans are middle class than living in poverty, as poverty reduction strategies gave the middle class a 12% boost since 2018.
💉 Evidence is accumulating that the shingles vaccine also protects against Alzheimer’s disease—and can slow biological aging.
🧑⚖️ Three major offshore US wind projects are back under construction now that a federal judge has unwound a suspension order from the Trump administration. Two other projects are awaiting hearings.
🌝 The quest to land a radio telescope on the far side of the moon should come to fruition early next year after 40 years of attempts. The telescope will pick up parts of the electromagnetic spectrum blocked on earth.
☀️ India is on an electrotech “fast track” that is allowing them to develop while avoiding fossil fuels—demonstrating a pathway for other emerging countries.
🪸 Australia is going all-out to protect the Great Barrier Reef, using a process called “coral IVF” to seed future generations of heat-resistant corals as oceans warm.
⚖️ The first domestic violence offender registry in the US took effect earlier this month in Tennessee.
👀 What we’re watching: Poland’s parliament introduced a “cohabitation” bill for same-sex couples that falls short of legalizing marriage but offers some recognition.
💡 Editor’s pick: Some American politicians are resisting the social media-ization of politics.
TPN Member Originals
(Who are our Members? Get to know them.)
Gaza peace plan enters phase two | Tangle | Isaac Saul
A turning point in Minnesota | Slow Boring | Matthew Yglesias
Finding the loyal opposition | The Renovator | Danielle Allen
The momentum of meaning | Flourishing Friday | Clay Routledge
The Davos crowd gets the world wrong again | TFP ($) | Tyler Cowen
The republic won’t snap back after Trump | WaPo ($) | Theodore R. Johnson
The coming Trump crackup | NYT ($) | David Brooks
The price of Trump’s strongman diplomacy | WaPo ($) | Fareed Zakaria
🎧 A final (and lasting?) nuclear revival | Faster, Please! | James Pethokoukis
The case for compassion over tough love | NYT ($) | Maia Szalavitz
Brillaint piece on Veronika! The environment-over-intelligence angle is probabyl the most underrated part here. I've seen similar patterns with farm dogs who figure out gate latches when they're around human routines enough. The multipurpose use (bristles vs handle) really does put this in a different category thoug.