After more than forty years, a bizarre panel from “The Far Side” comic strip has finally become prophecy. The cartoon depicts a strangely eye-less, bipedal cow standing in front of a bench of oddly-shaped objects, with the caption “Cow tools,” and no further context.
The “joke” — that cows are too stupid to make practical tools? — landed so flat that the cartoonist Gary Larson issued a public statement explaining it after readers swamped newspapers with confused inquiries after it ran.
Larson probably couldn’t predict that “Cow tools” would become a cultish internet meme decades later, serving for those in the know as an endearing icon of anti-humor — with such a heavy emphasis on the “anti” part that it borders on avant-garde art.
Similarly, the storied cartoonist probably never anticipated that “Cow tools” would turn out to be a real phenomenon.
You heard that right. In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, scientists say they’ve documented the first ever verified case of a bovine using a tool, suggesting we’ve been seriously underestimating the intelligence of these gentle creatures.
In footage shared by the researchers, the cow named Veronika holds a lengthy broom handle in her mouth and manipulates it to scratch herself, displaying impressive dexterity as she reaches everywhere on her body from her stomach to her rear end.
The feat is clearly no fluke, and remarkably, Veronika had received no training.
“[Veronika] did not fashion tools like the cow in Gary Larson’s cartoon, but she selected, adjusted, and used one with notable dexterity and flexibility,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Perhaps the real absurdity lies not in imagining a tool-using cow, but in assuming such a thing could never exist.”
Cows itch, just like us. But Veronika the cow takes things into her own hands. Or rather: into her mouth.
... continue reading