Artificial intelligence experts at the University of Southampton are working with the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary to develop machine learning for donkey identification.
The technology will enable visitors to the sanctuary to use an app to identify individual donkeys, and for supporters who have adopted a donkey to spot ‘their’ donkey in the herd.
The AI system also has the potential in the future to help identify health issues in donkeys. As famously stoic animals, it can be difficult to recognise when they are unwell. It is hoped that the app could alert staff at an early stage when a donkey is holding itself uncomfortably or unnaturally.
The app is named Ask ELVIS, which stands for Equine Long-range Visual Identification System. The name also honours one of the sanctuary’s first donkeys, Elvis, who passed away in 2024 aged approximately 35 years.
Explaining the challenge of donkey identification,
Gordon Pattison trustee of the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, which is home to 106 donkeys, explains the challenges:
“The donkeys used to wear collars with their names on, but they weren’t safe or comfortable for them. Many donkeys don’t have distinguishing features, and they live in herds in our fields, so identifying individual donkeys can be challenging.”
Dr Xiaohao Cai, Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton, is developing the app, along with PhD student Pengcheng Fang and master’s student Yu-Cheng Lai.
Dr Cai has said:
“The app will use AI technology to automatically identify individual donkeys. The AI recognition will identify individual donkeys from all angles – their faces, as well as from the side or behind.”
A preliminary version of the app, featuring the algorithm that will be at the core of the final product, is complete. It contains a library of hundreds of images of the donkeys from all angles and uses deep learning technologies to inform its decisions on which donkey it is identifying.
The project team is aiming to release the app for mobile phones at the end of 2025.
Dr Cai adds:
“It’s a really exciting project. It’s great to be working on something that’s beyond our own research and to be able to help such a fantastic charity as the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary.”
Stephen Tobitt, General Manager at the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary, says:
“We’re absolutely delighted to be working with the University of Southampton on this project, which promises to revolutionise our visitor experience.”
What’s wrong with putting a tag in their ear like cattle/sheep have etc? Why the need for environmentally-damaging energy waste of AI for something so trivial?