Drone technology has advanced recently, and their safety and operability have greatly improved, resulting in increased use in animal research. Drones of varying sizes and capabilities are commercially available and quite easy to purchase. This study used drone technology to watch horse behaviour and validate the proper horse–drone distance for airborne behavioural observations, demonstrating drone application in livestock management. The Phantom 4 Pro drone was used to record 11 horses between September and October 2017. To explore the horses' reactions to the drones and watch their behaviour, four flight altitudes were evaluated (60, 50, 40, and 30 m); the recording time at each altitude was 5 minutes. At whatever flight altitude, none of the horses demonstrated avoidance behaviour, and the observer was able to distinguish between any two horses. Foraging, moving, standing, recumbency, avoidance, and other actions were recorded. The most prevalent behaviour observed both personally and in the drone videos was foraging. All behavioural data from direct and drone video observations at all altitudes had substantial correlation coefficients (p 0.01). These findings suggest that both direct and recorded drone video observations may accurately detect horse behaviour. Finally, drones can be valuable for observing and documenting horse behaviour.
Author(S) Details
Tomoko Saitoh
Field Center of Animal Science and Agriculture, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan.
Moyu Kobayashi
Field Center of Animal Science and Agriculture, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, 080-8555, Hokkaido, Japan.
View Book:- https://stm.bookpi.org/RAAVS-V4/article/view/4852
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