Understanding Pig Screams with AI

The team of experts from Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Norway and the Czech Republic used thousands of recorded sounds from pigs in various situations, such as playing, being isolated or fighting over food.

Through research, they have identified sounds that express positive or negative emotions of this animal.

According to behavioral biologist Elodie Mandel-Briefer of the University of Copenhagen (Denmark) - co-lead of the study, understanding animal language will contribute significantly to improving the lives of animals in livestock farming.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm not only helps farmers better understand their pigs' emotions, but also alerts them when negative signs appear, thereby improving the psychology of these animals.

The researchers believe that once fully developed, the method could be used to label farms, making it easier for consumers to choose which products to buy.

According to the study, short calls often indicate positive emotions, while long calls often signal discomfort, such as when pigs jostle each other at the feeding trough.

High-frequency sounds indicate that pigs are stressed, such as when they are in pain, fighting, or separated from the herd.

Scientists used these findings to create an AI application algorithm.

“AI has helped us both process the large volume of audio we capture and automatically classify the audio,” said Mandel-Briefer.