European scientists have made a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can understand pig sounds. This tool aims to help farmers know how their pigs feel and improve their well-being.
The AI algorithm can alert farmers if pigs are having negative emotions. Elodie Mandel-Briefer, a behavioral biologist from the University of Copenhagen, said this could make life better for pigs. She is co-leading the study with other scientists from Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Norway, and Czechia.
The researchers recorded thousands of pig sounds during different activities like playing, being alone, or competing for food. They found that grunts, oinks, and squeals can show if a pig feels good or bad.
Even though many farmers can already tell how their pigs are doing by looking at them, most current tools only check their physical health. Mandel-Briefer said that the emotions of animals are important for their welfare, but farms don’t measure them very much.
The algorithm showed that pigs living on outdoor or organic farms with space to roam and dig make fewer stress calls compared to pigs raised in regular conditions. In the future, this tool could even help label farms to guide customers when buying products.
Once the tool is fully ready, farmers could use an app on their phones to understand the emotions behind their pigs’ sounds. For example, short grunts usually mean the pig is feeling good, while long grunts can show discomfort, like when pigs push each other for food. High-pitched sounds, like screams or squeals, often mean the pig is stressed, in pain, or separated from others.
The scientists used AI to help process and sort the large number of sounds they collected. Mandel-Briefer said, “AI helps us handle all the sounds and sort them automatically.”
Source: dailysabah
