AI to help tell donkeys apart at island sanctuary

Visitors to a donkey sanctuary will be able to identify their favourite adopted animal using artificial intelligence (AI) and their phone camera, researchers say.

University of Southampton scientists developing the mobile app – being used at the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary – said they hoped it could also help identify health issues in the future.

The app uses a library of hundreds of photographs of the donkeys from every angle, utilising machine-learning and AI to distinguish them from one another.

Development still has a way to go, with the app having a coin-flip accuracy of only 50% at the moment.

But project lead Dr Xiaohao Cai said he was confident it would be much improved and ready for the public to use by the end of the year.

“At the moment we’re trying to bridge the gap between the experimental accuracy and the real-world accuracy,” said Dr Cai.

The idea emerged after it was noticed name collars worn by the donkeys were becoming hazardous and uncomfortable, said Gordon Pattison, volunteer and trustee of the sanctuary in Ventnor.

“There had been some accidents and near misses, so we got rid of all the collars in 2023,” said Mr Pattison.

“They’re not of any use to the animal, but they’re incredibly useful to the public – some of whom will come and want to see a particular animal.”

The sanctuary raises funds by allowing visitors to adopt a donkey – something Mr Pattison said thousands of people had signed up to do.

The app is called Ask ELVIS (Equine Long-range Visual Identification System), named after one of the sanctuary’s donkeys who died in 2024 and was described by staff as an “iconic character”.

“When the app starts up, you see Elvis the donkey, and the idea is you’re asking a donkey, ‘who’s that donkey over there?'” said Mr Pattison.

The app will then show the donkey’s name and a link to webpage where visitors can learn more about that animal.

And asked if donkeys respond to their name, Mr Pattison said they do.

He said in future the sanctuary hoped to work with scientists from the university to see if AI could also help monitor for health issues in the animals – but that project has not got off the ground yet.

“At the moment we will pick it up (the health issue), but we might not pick it up immediately,” he said. “[The donkeys] don’t give out much, they’re very stoic – so we have to look for subtle clues,” he added.

“The message is that AI isn’t just for big state enterprises.

“If you’ve got an idea, it can help you out – you just need to approach the problem from a different point of view.”