Scientists have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can automatically identify and count distress signals of chickens. They say that the new technology can be made available within five years so that farmers can save the lives of these birds.

Researchers claim that the AI, which detects and quantifies distress calls made by chickens housed in huge indoor sheds, can correctly distinguish distress calls from other barn noises with 97 per cent accuracy.

In their early life, chicks utter distress calls—high-pitched, repetitive chirps—to attract the mother hen’s attention for food or in distress. But in a commercial chicken farm, it can be difficult to pick up when they’re uncomfortable, socially isolated, or hungry. Answering these calls can be the difference between life and death.

To improve these efforts, researchers at the City University of Hong Kong recorded the vocalisations of chickens housed at Lingfeng Poultry Ltd., a major poultry producer in China’s Guangxi province.

The birds were kept in stacked cages (three cages per stack, and 13 to 20 individuals per cage), with about 2000 to 2500 chickens in each barn.

Over the course of a year, the researchers recorded the environment, picking up everything from natural farm sounds such as workers hosing down barn floors to the chick distress calls.

They then transformed all of these noises into sound pictures known as spectrograms and used the images to train a type of AI program called deep learning.

“Chickens are very vocal, but the distress call tends to be louder than the others, and is what we would describe as a pure tonal call,” The Guardian quoted Alan McElligott, an associate professor of animal behaviour and welfare at the City University of Hong Kong.

&nbsp;“Even to the untrained ear, it’s not too difficult to pick them out.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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Scientists have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can automatically identify and count distress signals of chickens. They say that the new technology can be made available within five years so that farmers can save the lives of these birds.

Scientists have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) that can automatically identify and count distress signals of chickens. They say that the new technology can be made available within five years so that farmers can save the lives of these birds. Researchers claim that the AI, which detects and quantifies distress calls made by chickens housed in huge indoor sheds, can correctly distinguish distress calls from other barn noises with 97 per cent accuracy. In their early life, chicks utter distress calls—high-pitched, repetitive chirps—to attract the mother hen’s attention for food or in distress. But in a commercial chicken farm, it can be difficult to pick up when they’re uncomfortable, socially isolated, or hungry. Answering these calls can be the difference between life and death. To improve these efforts, researchers at the City University of Hong Kong recorded the vocalisations of chickens housed at Lingfeng Poultry Ltd., a major poultry producer in China’s Guangxi province. The birds were kept in stacked cages (three cages per stack, and 13 to 20 individuals per cage), with about 2000 to 2500 chickens in each barn. Over the course of a year, the researchers recorded the environment, picking up everything from natural farm sounds such as workers hosing down barn floors to the chick distress calls. They then transformed all of these noises into sound pictures known as spectrograms and used the images to train a type of AI program called deep learning. “Chickens are very vocal, but the distress call tends to be louder than the others, and is what we would describe as a pure tonal call,” The Guardian quoted Alan McElligott, an associate professor of animal behaviour and welfare at the City University of Hong Kong. “Even to the untrained ear, it’s not too difficult to pick them out.” (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE

Scientists develop AI that can gauge distress signals of baby chickens

A crew member died and four others went missing after fire broke out on a new Maersk Line container vessel in the Arabian Sea, the company said.

The vessel caught fire at around 1520 GMT on Tuesday, about 900 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman, the world&#39;s biggest container shipping company said in a statement.

Twenty-three crew members were rescued but one of them, a Thai national, died on Wednesday, added Maersk.

&quot;His health condition drastically deteriorated ... due to the injuries sustained in connection to the fire,&quot; said Maersk, a unit of Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk.

The fire was still burning on Wednesday and searches were still going on for four other crew members who went missing after the blaze, it added.

&quot;This is a very serious fire,&quot; a company spokeswoman said. &quot;At this stage we have no reason to believe the fire was caused by an error in the ship&#39;s construction.&quot;&nbsp;

The Maersk ship was en route from Singapore towards Suez. Two of the evacuated crew members received medical aid onboard another container vessel en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, Maersk said.

The 27-strong crew included 13 from India, nine from the Philippines, two Thai nationals and one each from Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Maersk did not disclose the identity of the four missing crew members but said relatives had been informed.

Maersk said the crew of Maersk Honam sent out a distress signal after unsuccessful firefighting efforts on Tuesday.&nbsp; 
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The crew of Maersk Honam sent out a distress signal after unsuccessful firefighting efforts on Tuesday

A crew member died and four others went missing after fire broke out on a new Maersk Line container vessel in the Arabian Sea, the company said. The vessel caught fire at around 1520 GMT on Tuesday, about 900 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman, the world's biggest container shipping company said in a statement. Twenty-three crew members were rescued but one of them, a Thai national, died on Wednesday, added Maersk. "His health condition drastically deteriorated ... due to the injuries sustained in connection to the fire," said Maersk, a unit of Danish shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk. The fire was still burning on Wednesday and searches were still going on for four other crew members who went missing after the blaze, it added. "This is a very serious fire," a company spokeswoman said. "At this stage we have no reason to believe the fire was caused by an error in the ship's construction." The Maersk ship was en route from Singapore towards Suez. Two of the evacuated crew members received medical aid onboard another container vessel en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, Maersk said. The 27-strong crew included 13 from India, nine from the Philippines, two Thai nationals and one each from Romania, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Maersk did not disclose the identity of the four missing crew members but said relatives had been informed. Maersk said the crew of Maersk Honam sent out a distress signal after unsuccessful firefighting efforts on Tuesday.

One dead after Maersk Line vessel catches fire in Arabian Sea

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