Evolutionary Problem: Cow Uses Tools “Like a Primate”

Well, before I get to that, let me share this new study with you. A Brown Swiss cow named Veronika has been kept as a pet for years and was observed picking up sticks and using them to scratch her body. A video of her behavior caught the attention of some scientists.

When I saw the footage, it was immediately clear that this was not accidental. . . . This was a meaningful example of tool use in a species that is rarely considered from a cognitive perspective.

The scientists then created a study for Veronika and discovered:

Across multiple trials, Veronika consistently chose specific parts of the brush depending on where she wanted to scratch. Her selections were not random. Instead, they matched the needs of different areas of her body. . . .

For larger, firmer areas like her back, she preferred the bristled side. For more sensitive regions on her lower body, she switched to the smoother handle.

She also adjusted her movements. Scratching her upper body involved broader, stronger motions, while movements directed at lower areas were slower and more precise.

This was clear evidence of cow intelligence that had not been thought possible before. Her ability to use a tool flexibly, using “different features of the same object for different outcomes,” is “extremely rare and has previously been clearly documented only in chimpanzees among non-human species.”

Why is this a problem for evolution? Well, what is used over and over again to convince people they are indeed closely related to chimpanzees and other great apes? Their intelligence. Apes are constantly compared with humans, and anything remotely similar between them is highly emphasized, especially anything to do with intelligence. And yet we keep finding this intelligence in other parts of the animal kingdom.

If intelligence in unrelated animals isn’t evidence of common ancestry, why should it be considered evidence in supposedly related animals?

Ravens and crows, octopuses, pigs, dolphins, and now cows are found to be highly intelligent and capable of doing surprising things (nowhere near human capabilities, of course). But according to the evolutionary worldview, we’re not closely related to any of them. So if intelligence in unrelated animals isn’t evidence of common ancestry, why should it be considered evidence in supposedly related animals? Well, that’s something evolutionists just don’t want to think about! They don’t care to be consistent.

The evolutionary connection between humans and apes exists only in the minds of the researchers. The truth of our ancestry is found in God’s Word, which says that humans were uniquely created in the image of God. The reason we are so radically different from everything else in creation—including cows and great apes—is that we’re made in God’s image. We’re not related to the animals; man was made from dust, woman from his side, and we’re all descended through those first two humans.

Evolution is just a fairy tale.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.