Imagine having a simple, science-based tool to assess your pet’s emotional state in real time? This technology could be on the horizon and we’re excited to see what 2025 brings in this space.
Animals communicate their emotions in many ways—through their behaviour, body posture, and even facial expressions. But what if technology could help us understand them better?
Humans rely heavily on facial expressions to convey emotions, and we’re naturally attuned to recognising them from birth. It’s no surprise that we often look to an animal’s face to gauge how it’s feeling. With the right tools, humans could more accurately interpret an animal's emotional state, improving both animal and human welfare.
A new era in animal emotion research
Traditional methods for studying animal emotions often involve invasive techniques, like measuring blood parameters, or time-intensive behavioural analysis. However, advancements in technology borrowed from human facial expression studies are changing the game.
Researchers are now using cameras and smart software to analyse subtle facial changes in animals — like eye shape, ear movement, or nostril flare — when they experience different emotions. This non-invasive method provides a safer, more efficient way to assess how animals feel. It also opens the door for pet owners to better understand emotions like fear, happiness, or sadness in their furry, feathered, or scaled companions.
For these tools to truly benefit animal welfare, they must be backed by rigorous scientific validation. Researchers need to confirm that the facial movements detected are directly linked to emotional states. While tools for interpreting negative emotions like pain and aggression have been developed for species such as rats, mice, sheep, and horses, creating tools for positive emotions—or for less expressive species like chickens—remains a challenge.
Exciting advances in research
At Companion Animals New Zealand (CANZ), our ‘A Good Life for Animals’ research team is collaborating with international experts to explore the potential of using behavioural and facial expression for improving welfare outcomes. For example, in an exciting joint project with Lyon College in Arkansas, USA, Dr. Britt Florkiewicz, undergraduate student researcher Levi Neal and Dr. Gosia Zobel (CANZ) are leading a study to delve into the mysterious world of cat facial expressions. We’re investigating feline facial expressions and how they’re interpreted – all 270 of them!
This study also seeks to explore whether New Zealanders can accurately predict the outcomes of interactions between cats by interpreting their facial expressions, what features people use to assist their assessment, and whether there are specific human characteristics—such as a person’s age, occupation, or previous experience with cats—that affect their accuracy.
CANZ is also working with a Brazilian animal welfare research group led by Professor Adroaldo Zanella at the University of Sao Paolo to investigate use of advancements in AI to develop improved ability to recognise signs of positive and negative emotions in horses when they are being ridden. The three year PhD project being carried out by student and veterinarian Gabriel Lencioni, will assess the use of deep learning to understand equine emotions and so far the results are very promising.
Professor Nat Waran, Director of A Good Life for Animals Centre, adds why CANZ is so interested in these advancements:
“Whilst animal owners may feel that they can already read their animal’s expression or mood, without the robust science-based approach that underpins the development of precision technology such as the facial recognition software, there is always a risk that an animal owner could misread an animal’s intent and as such put themselves, the animal or a third party in a compromised situation.
“The opportunity to make use of technological solutions to support improvements in animal welfare is extremely exciting.”
The future: improved human- animal communication and connection?
Imagine having a simple, science-based tool to assess your pet’s emotional state in real time. This technology could enhance the bond between humans and animals, improve welfare, and even prevent misunderstandings that could lead to unsafe situations.
While many pet owners feel they already understand their animals, being able to use research-based tools offers a level of precision that can reduce the risk of misinterpreting an animal's mood or intentions. As technology advances, we’re moving closer to a future where animal emotions will be far more accessible to us providing a bridge to deeper human-animal connection and improved care.
