Paudel Shiva, Brown-Brandl Tami
Department of Biological System Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68503, USA.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Aug 27;15(17):2514. doi: 10.3390/ani15172514.
Precision livestock farming (PLF) is rapidly advancing, with a growing array of technologies being explored and implemented to improve both productivity and animal welfare. One of the major challenges in this field is the identification of individual animals. Despite numerous efforts having been made to automate this process, there remains a lack of holistic reviews that comprehensively integrate and evaluate these technological developments. Historically, humans have employed various techniques to identify individual animals. This article provides an overview of the evolution of animal identification methods, highlighting significant transitions across various time periods. In prehistoric times, identification relied solely on visual inspection. Today, advanced methods are being utilized, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), computer vision-based systems, biometric recognition, and DNA profiling. Each identification method has its own strengths and limitations. Interestingly, early methods such as visual inspection and drawing can still inspire the development of novel automated systems when combined with modern technologies.
精准畜牧养殖（PLF）正在迅速发展，人们正在探索和应用越来越多的技术来提高生产力和动物福利。该领域的一大挑战是识别个体动物。尽管已经做出了许多努力来实现这一过程的自动化，但仍然缺乏全面整合和评估这些技术发展的整体综述。从历史上看，人类采用了各种技术来识别个体动物。本文概述了动物识别方法的演变，突出了不同时期的重大转变。在史前时代，识别仅依靠目视检查。如今，人们正在使用先进的方法，如射频识别（RFID）、基于计算机视觉的系统、生物识别和DNA分析。每种识别方法都有其自身的优势和局限性。有趣的是，早期的方法，如目视检查和绘图，当与现代技术结合时，仍然可以启发新型自动化系统的开发。
