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Posted: 19th June 2025

AI experts create tool for donkey identification
The app could also identify health problems in donkeys.
The app could identify individual donkeys at a donkey sanctuary.

Experts from the University of Southampton are working on a new app, which could use artificial intelligence (AI) to identify individual donkeys.

The technology will allows visitors to the Isle of Wight Donkey Sanctuary to use their phones to identify specific donkeys in the sanctuary’s herd.

The app has been named Ask ELVIS, which stands for Equine Long-range Visual Identification System. It has been named in memory of one of the Sanctuary’s first donkeys, Elvis, who died aged 35 last year.

As well as its uses for donkey identification, experts also believe the technology could be used to alert of health problems in donkeys.

Since donkeys often hide illnesses, it can often be difficult to get an early diagnosis of conditions. It is hoped that the technology will be able to recognise if a donkey is holding itself unnaturally or uncomfortably.  

In its current form, the app is expected to help those sponsoring an animal to identify their donkey from the sanctuary’s 108 residents.

The donkeys used to wear collars with their names on, before it was decided this that was not safe or comfortable for them. Since many donkeys do not have distinguishing features, identifying them in a herd can be challenging.

The app contains a library of hundreds of images of donkeys from all angles. Combined with deep learning technologies, it will be able to use these images to make decisions about the donkey it is identifying.

It is expecting to be released at the end of 2025.

Xiaohao Cai, assistant professor of computer science at the University of Southampton, 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.”

“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.”

Image © Shutterstock



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