Zayn Malik turns his phone off for "two or three days" at a time to spend time with his animals

He is quoted by The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column as saying: "I've got three dogs, four cats, three turtles and ten chickens.

"I'll just turn my phone off for two or three days and not use it at all. They [the animals] just have that down.

"They're very present in their being.

"They're just in the moment there with you and that helps me to be there with them too, that's why I enjoy animals.

"There's no hinge point, there's no catch, they don't want anything from you except love.

"They don't judge you, they just love you."

The 'What I Am' singer - who found global fame as part of One Direction alongside Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Niall Horan in 2010 but left the band in 2015 to pursue solo projects - recently explained that one day he wants to have a "proper farm" and dreams of owning horses one day.

Speaking on Capital FM Breakfast, he explained: "I've got a farm, I've lived on my farm for about five, six years now. I've got chickens, got a couple of turtles, got dogs, cats.

"Eventually going to branch out to making it a bit more of a proper farm when I have the time, but it's a lot of work looking after a loads of animals. I want horses eventually, I would like to get some horses, too."