The Prague Post - Researchers decode pigs' well-being through oinks and grunts

EUR -
AED 4.303976
AFN 81.441964
ALL 97.724417
AMD 449.756269
ANG 2.097062
AOA 1074.532108
ARS 1467.319002
AUD 1.793664
AWG 2.109223
AZN 2.007504
BAM 1.958274
BBD 2.365789
BDT 142.830437
BGN 1.955834
BHD 0.441678
BIF 3446.235331
BMD 1.17179
BND 1.500996
BOB 8.096228
BRL 6.556157
BSD 1.171981
BTN 100.360786
BWP 15.654777
BYN 3.834544
BYR 22967.090269
BZD 2.353573
CAD 1.604592
CDF 3381.786877
CHF 0.93107
CLF 0.029006
CLP 1113.110977
CNY 8.413747
CNH 8.416905
COP 4712.940666
CRC 590.946541
CUC 1.17179
CUP 31.052443
CVE 110.733745
CZK 24.628631
DJF 208.250341
DKK 7.46078
DOP 70.48331
DZD 152.044871
EGP 58.118102
ERN 17.576855
ETB 159.490077
FJD 2.633306
FKP 0.863336
GBP 0.862264
GEL 3.175215
GGP 0.863336
GHS 12.176313
GIP 0.863336
GMD 83.782479
GNF 10143.017355
GTQ 9.005376
GYD 245.029545
HKD 9.197904
HNL 30.876537
HRK 7.532502
HTG 153.784275
HUF 399.797296
IDR 19039.249117
ILS 3.888528
IMP 0.863336
INR 100.455709
IQD 1535.045319
IRR 49361.666877
ISK 143.40402
JEP 0.863336
JMD 187.306624
JOD 0.830825
JPY 171.514723
KES 151.742248
KGS 102.473037
KHR 4711.768848
KMF 493.324088
KPW 1054.585525
KRW 1610.122236
KWD 0.357783
KYD 0.976434
KZT 607.637627
LAK 25240.363919
LBP 104992.412278
LKR 352.255003
LRD 234.941473
LSL 20.846005
LTL 3.459992
LVL 0.708804
LYD 6.329253
MAD 10.551939
MDL 19.860089
MGA 5191.031139
MKD 61.507957
MMK 2460.182431
MNT 4205.038884
MOP 9.474069
MRU 46.525908
MUR 52.972553
MVR 18.042664
MWK 2034.81537
MXN 21.838129
MYR 4.980692
MZN 74.947358
NAD 20.845642
NGN 1797.127848
NIO 43.063088
NOK 11.836558
NPR 160.576856
NZD 1.952268
OMR 0.450555
PAB 1.17168
PEN 4.153409
PGK 4.848848
PHP 66.335527
PKR 333.081322
PLN 4.246852
PYG 9081.472602
QAR 4.266021
RON 5.077134
RSD 117.19662
RUB 91.646306
RWF 1680.347319
SAR 4.395227
SBD 9.769127
SCR 16.535124
SDG 703.660427
SEK 11.142801
SGD 1.50036
SHP 0.920843
SLE 26.368938
SLL 24571.861406
SOS 669.677436
SRD 43.649776
STD 24253.693785
SVC 10.251951
SYP 15235.769903
SZL 20.846096
THB 38.293909
TJS 11.336221
TMT 4.112984
TND 3.40394
TOP 2.744453
TRY 46.921414
TTD 7.956051
TWD 34.240841
TZS 3078.883475
UAH 48.97497
UGX 4206.313826
USD 1.17179
UYU 47.39988
UZS 14875.878317
VES 131.577763
VND 30629.42717
VUV 139.799183
WST 3.226363
XAF 656.786717
XAG 0.032209
XAU 0.000354
XCD 3.166822
XDR 0.815664
XOF 654.420316
XPF 119.331742
YER 283.397416
ZAR 20.8927
ZMK 10547.504558
ZMW 28.502007
ZWL 377.316005
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Researchers decode pigs' well-being through oinks and grunts
Researchers decode pigs' well-being through oinks and grunts / Photo: Sergei SUPINSKY - AFP/File

Researchers decode pigs' well-being through oinks and grunts

European researchers have developed a way of decoding the feelings of pigs through their grunts, oinks and squeals in a project aimed at improving animal welfare.

Text size:

Biologists studied over 7,000 recordings from 411 pigs, from the brief squeaks of satisfaction at feeding time to the desperate cries at slaughter, before classifying them into 19 different categories.

"We show that it's possible basically to figure out the emotions of the pigs according to their vocalisations," project leader Elodie Briefer, a lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, told AFP.

The project, split between Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, France and the Czech Republic and published in the journal Nature, offers a new way of improving animal welfare by laying the groundwork for a tool that can categorise an emotion based on the noise produced, according to the researcher.

"We also run a machine learning algorithm... which produces a spectrogram, then it is trained to recognise negative and positive contexts."

Once developed, the new tool would allow farmers, who today can mostly only check the physical well-being of the animals, to monitor their mental health.

The researcher said if the negative squeals increase, the farmer would be alerted that something was wrong and could check.

The Scandinavian country is home to 13.2 million pigs -- making it the leader in Europe with over two per capita -- and for the Danish Agriculture and Food Council the implications of the study are promising.

"This concept... could potentially be a useful tool among others in the work to monitor the health and well-being of pigs," Trine Vig, a spokeswoman for the council, said.

- 'They're very vocal' -

According to Briefer they reached "92 percent accuracy of classifying the valence... (or) whether the call is negative or positive, and 82 percent accuracy in classifying the actual context in which the sounds were produced".

According to the findings, positive feelings are expressed in short grunts, while negative sentiments are most often expressed with longer sounds.

But why focus on the pig rather than a cow or a rabbit?

For the authors of the study, the pig, known for its wide range of squeaks and noises, was the perfect match.

"They're very vocal, which makes them easier to study," the researcher said.

"They produce vocalisations all the time, even in a low intensity situation, they would still vocalise."

C.Novotny--TPP