Nursery Microbiome Transmission and Veronica the Tool-Using Cow: Nature Briefing

Two stories illuminate the links between microbiology and animal cognition. A Nature study following 43 infants through their first nursery year in Italy shows extensive microbiome sharing among peers within weeks, with siblings contributing more microbes than parents and antibiotics briefly reducing diversity before rapid recovery. A separate report features Veronica, a cow in Austria that learned to scratch an itch using a broom, demonstrating sophisticated tool use and adaptability. Researchers discuss what counts as tool use in animals and what Veronica’s behavior might mean for livestock welfare and our understanding of animal intelligence.

Overview

Two distinct strands of life are explored in this Nature Briefing: the invisible world of gut microbes in early childhood and the visible intelligence of animals in agricultural settings. The first story reveals how social environments shape the developing microbiome, while the second showcases a remarkable example of tool use by a farm animal.

Nursery Microbiome Transmission

In a Nature study, researchers tracked 43 babies with a median age of 10 months from before their first year of nursery attendance through the end of one year in Italy. The team collected fecal samples from the infants, their siblings, their parents, and a subset of nursery staff and household animals. The key finding is the extent of baby-to-baby microbiome transmission: within a month of starting nursery, substantial exchange of microbial strains was already occurring, and after four months the infants shared 15 to 20 percent of their microbial species. The study notes that while diet at nursery influences microbiome changes, peer transmission plays a significant role in shaping microbial diversity. "the transmission of strains between babies is extensive." - study author

Another interesting pattern is the impact of siblings. Babies with a sibling acquired more microbes from that sibling than from both parents, and they acquired fewer bacterial strains from nursery peers. The presence of antibiotics temporarily reduces the number of strains in the infant gut, but recovery is rapid with a substantial influx of new strains over the year. These findings help fill gaps in understanding how early-life microbial communities are seeded and maintained, with implications for long-term gut health and development.

Veronica the Tool-Using Cow

The second thread turns to Veronica, a cow from a mountainous village in southern Austria who appears to engage in a form of tool use. Veronica grasps a stick or broom, manipulates it with her tongue, and scratches herself at various locations by adjusting the tool’s orientation. Over 70 trials with different orientations, she demonstrated versatility in using the tool to reach itchy areas, including using the handle rather than the bristles in more sensitive spots. The researchers emphasise that tool use involves an extension of the body, enabling actions that would otherwise be difficult, and the animal must adapt the tool for the task.

"Veronica was able to take the broom, change the orientation, and scratch the itch in all sorts of different places." - research team

Definitions and Implications for Animal Cognition

Experts interviewed in the study discuss what counts as tool use in non-human animals, arguing that Veronica’s behavior may reflect high cognitive flexibility and emotional depth in livestock. The researchers suggest that providing animals with access to tools and enriched environments could promote welfare and reveal latent problem-solving abilities in domesticated species.

"The tool must be an extension of the animal's body, must allow the animal to do something it would otherwise have great difficulty doing, and the animal must change orientation of the tool to make it do its job." - researcher

Takeaways and Future Directions

Taken together, these stories highlight two threads of life: the complex, dynamic exchange of microbes in early childhood and the cognitive richness of farm animals when given the right conditions. The researchers and presenters call for further study of microbiome development in varied social settings and for improving the welfare and living conditions of livestock to reflect their cognitive and emotional capacities.