Veronika the Austrian cow adapts the placement of a tool depending where on her body she has an itch, and challenges assumptions about cattle smarts in the process.

Learn how researchers tested a cow’s behavior and what her tool use reveals about animal intelligence.

For decades, the default assumption has been that cows don’t have the kind of minds that support tool use. A famous Far Side cartoon, Cow Tools, made that idea into a joke: a cow stands beside strange ...