Cows use tools to preen Beef cattle use tools to keep their
coats healthy, says an Australian researcher, suggesting they
are more than all brawn and no brains. Animal behaviour
scientist Bob Kilgour, who works for the New South Wales
Department of Primary Industries, observed the grooming
behaviour of various breeds of beef cattle at pasture on a
number of properties over several days. He found they spend
about 3% of their day grooming and preening themselves, even in
the absence of parasites. They mainly use their tongues and hind
hooves to groom the rear end of their bodies, Kilgour says. But
they also use inanimate objects like trees, branches, fence
posts and stumps to get at areas they can't reach, he says.
"They'll walk up to fallen tree limbs which have protruding
branches and groom around their eyes," he says. "So they're
making very finely controlled motor movements to groom around
sensitive parts of their body." Kilgour will tell the
Australasian Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour
confer