# Cow Tools! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 20, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849 "2026-01-20T13:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849/1 "2026-01-20T13:58:14Z")
Gary Larsen knew all along - cows use tools! > **[New 'Cow Tools' research transforms our understanding of bovine intelligence...](https://uk.style.yahoo.com/cow-tools-research-transforms-understanding-131500072.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHpN2j1bJH9LoJCPNDIyd5mImKO5Nsl4cztYm_aKwDdl3Xr49aihRzv9kDOVKCDYARtLBhFD_NJ_ttWfOPYF9HOR4eGQp46qFmuKI9gnTh2C1BQIQR8n2cEQa9IaEsXx6IuGPvNNyBwPeAc1vryZTbh0JfS5tyENjDwa37vNMkC9)** > > Gary Larson's 1982 The Far Side cartoon Cow Tools has long delighted internet jokers - with its oblique anti-humour making it one of his most shared creations online. However, researchers now say that the famous strip depicting a no-nothing tooled up... ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849/2 "2026-01-20T15:37:05Z")
See also > **[Austrian cow shows first case of flexible, multi-purpose tool use in cattle](https://phys.org/news/2026-01-austrian-cow-case-flexible-multi.html)** > > In 1982, cartoonist Gary Larson published a now-iconic "Far Side" comic titled "Cow Tools." In it, a cow stands proudly beside a jumble of bizarre, useless objects that are "tools" in name only. The joke hinged on a simple assumption: cows are not... with less intrusive ads & crap. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849/3 "2026-01-20T16:11:22Z")
From the first link: “A paper published on 19 January in the journal Current Biology suggests that cattle may be more cognitively capable than previously thought.” — I strongly suspect that a whole lot of species are more cognitively capable than previously thought. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849/4 "2026-01-20T16:16:40Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I strongly suspect that a whole lot of species are more cognitively capable than previously thought. That certainly seems likely. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cow-tools/1026849/5 "2026-01-20T16:21:03Z")
A fun read about some of the history of that cartoon: > A group was formed in California called The Fellowship of the Unexplained, and they wrote in to Larson to ask him to explain the joke, noting that they, "The Cow Tools fellows have been brought together by an absolute certainty that your cartoon means something.” > > [https://www.cbr.com/far-side-cow-tools-confusion-gary-larson-letter/](https://www.cbr.com/far-side-cow-tools-confusion-gary-larson-letter/)