alt Hacker NewsCows can use sophisticated tools
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The Guardian has a photo and a video: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/19/back-scratch...
It seems like the lesson we keep learning, no matter the proxy we use for intelligence, is that there is nothing that fundamentally sets humans apart from other animals (or even, in some ways, AI) other than the degree and scope of our intelligence.
While I'll never begrudge science that points out the obvious -- that's often where the most value comes from -- this particular avenue is always a little funny to me, as it often belies an expectation that other animals are unable to do these things by default.
Often one has to translate things into understanding by the animal at hand.
Monkeys learn quickly. Cows oddly enough can also learn quickly in social cohesion. So one cow figures something out; the others often quickly adapt and learn too. So the main step is the initial hurdle to overcome. There are lots of videos about this on youtube, starting with simple ones such as scratch-objects where cows rub against and it helps them scratch areas they can not easily reach on their own.
I never interpreted the Cow Tools strip as saying "cows are too dumb to use tools", but more along the lines of "if cows could create tools could we even fathom their use?" - kinda like the Borges story, Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge[0]. On the other hand, I read The Far Side when I was small and didn't really have the scientific chops to get a lot of the humor, so maybe I cemented an incorrect interpretation.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_Emporium_of_Benevole...
It's noteworthy to me that every scientific discovery is that non-human animals are "more clever than we thought" - and never ever the other way around.
Man, scientists and journalists would do the world a favor by stepping outside their urban bubble. Cows use all sorts of things to scratch with. It is common place to see automated cow brushes they can use on their backs on dairy farms.
Cows are pretty smart. Sheep are dumb animals that try to kill themselves any number of ways. Chickens are dumb lizards with feathers.
Wikipedia has illustrations of the tools: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow_tools
Cow General Intelligence (CGI) when?
Watch out. It has been predicted... https://youtu.be/FQMbXvn2RNI?si=-Y6mo-3mWbpbZtVc
Privacy Badger blocked 75 trackers on their site :O
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the researcher documented a cow using a stick to scratch itself. no doubt they're intelligent animals but describing them as using 'sophisticated tools' is a bit of a stretch.
this behaviour is quite common in cattle and other animals, often seen rubbing or using sticks to scratch spots. sometimes it is dangerous as they find fences with nail poking out and cut themselves when rubbing to to calm an itch.
I can confirm that cows are also capable of opening gates, and closing them, and also of doing so in a manner intending to antagonize goats, while also giving the farmer something to do. Moo.