We read in the ARA A news story by Cristina Sáez that steals our heartsScientists at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna have found that a cow is capable of "using a tool flexibly for specific purposes." The photograph shows the animal, named Veronika, with a stick in her mouth. They say that "this is an action that had not been previously described in cattle, only in some primates and corvids."

In DystociaPilar Membrillo It tells the love story of two cows. It does so with delightful prose and delicacy, recounting the relationships that develop between them and dedicating pages to describing behaviors we have long believed to be exclusive to primates, such as mourning the loss of a beloved companion. Now, to the emotional complexity portrayed by this veterinarian from Banyoles in her novel, we must add a cognition far more complex than previously thought, as Veronika, a 13-year-old cow grazing in southern Austria, has shown us.

There are people who, when they wake up, aren't human until they've had at least a couple of cups of coffee. Others, on the other hand, wake up in a good mood and with their brains already working at cruising speed as soon as they put on their sneakers. Technically—and with a touch of humor—the former have been labeled as night owls already the seconds how a morning larks, in honor of night owls and early morning larks, respectively. As much as it annoys us, neither of them is to blame for preferring a specific distribution of their daily activity/sleep pattern, what is called chronotype: belonging to one group or another basically depends on the genes passed on to you by your parents.

When we travel, we usually carefully plan our journeys and choose the route we will follow to find the fastest, most comfortable, cheapest, or most scenically attractive, depending on our priorities. We are not the only species that makes periodic movements. Many other animals, such as herbivores that live in social groups, also do so in search of the best pastures and water sources depending on the time of year. This is the case with zebras, wildebeests, and gazelles, among many others. It may seem that they move guided simply by their survival instinct, without giving it much thought, but as Emilio Berti and his collaborators from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, the Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, the University of Oxford, and also the organization Save the Elephant have just demonstrated, they are guided by their movements.