by They are scaly, forked-tongued and can measure up to 20 feet long. Pythons may be one of the most Earth-friendly meats to farm on the planet.
A group of researchers studied two large python species over 12 months on farms in Thailand and Vietnam – where snake meat is considered a delicacy – and found that they were more efficient at raising them than other livestock.
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Their research, published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports , suggests that python farming could offer a solution to increasing food insecurity around the world, which is exacerbated by climate change.
The researchers, who studied more than 4,600 pythons, found that Burmese and reticulated pythons grew quickly in their first year of life, and needed less food (in terms of what is known as life conversion : the amount of feed to produce a pound of it). meat) than other farmed products, including chicken, beef, pork, salmon – and even crickets.
The snakes were fed a mixture of locally sourced food, including wild-caught rodents, pork by-products and fish pellets. They gained up to 1.6 ounces per day, with the females growing faster than their male counterparts.
The snakes were not force-fed, and the researchers found that the reptiles could fast for long periods without losing much body mass, which meant they required less labor to feed than traditional farm animals.
“They need very little water. A python can survive from the dew that forms on its scales. In the morning, he’s drinking from his scales and that’s enough,” said Daniel Natusch, a herpetologist and biodiversity expert who was involved in the research. “Theoretically you could stop feeding him for a year.”
In a world where scientists predict climate change will lead to more extreme weather and environmental disruption, a species that is resilient, resilient to food shortages and able to produce protein “much more efficiently than anything else studied to date” is “almost a dream come true,” Natusch said.
Tastes like chicken
Snakes have long been revered in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicine, as well as in dishes such as Hong Kong’s famous snake soup. In recent years, snake farms have sprung up across Southeast Asia and China, catering to a growing demand for snake meat and skin, which is used in luxury leather goods.
During his research, Natusch ate snake barbecued, sauteed on skewers, in curries and as jerky. He described the taste as something like chicken, but a little more gamy. Because snakes have no limbs, little is wasted in the butchery, he said. And it’s incredibly easy to fill: “You just have to bring your knife on that backstrap and you get a four meter long piece of meat.”
However, Natusch admits that snakes are unlikely to become a major part of Western diets anytime soon. In his native Australia, he said, “the only good snake is a dead snake. People are very afraid of them.” (Pythons are harmless and usually move slowly, but they have large teeth and can bite if provoked. They have been known to eat small pets including cats and dogs.)
In the United States, Burmese pythons are considered an invasive species, having proliferated in the Florida Everglades, where they are hunted to kill the population. In a study last year, the US Geological Survey described the Florida python problem as “one of the most challenging invasive species management issues in the world.”
Because store-bought meat is relatively cheap and easier to come by than catching these slippery creatures, Natusch doesn’t envision a future where snake farming is the solution to America’s python woes. But he sees the snakes as a potential climate solution for farmers in places like Africa, where food insecurity is a growing problem as climate disasters overwhelm any innovation in farming techniques.
“So long that [farmers are] willing to trap some pest rodents in their corn or maize, and feed them with a python every now and then, you have a high-quality, resilient protein there,” he said.
Python requirements are pretty basic. They are sedentary by nature and happily side with other snakes, showing “few of the complex animal welfare issues commonly seen in caged birds and mammals,” the researchers said.
While some conservationists have expressed concern that commercial snake farming could lead to the illegal harvest of wild populations, Natusch – who chairs a snake specialist group for the International Union for Conservation of Nature – argues that the opposite is true: He gives his otherwise for local communities. a financial incentive to conserve wild populations and the habitats they depend on.
The barriers to entry for snake farming are low compared to lab-grown meat, which involves significant costs and requires technical expertise. In Asia, snakes are housed in simple enclosures in warehouses. And even without the kind of genetic engineering that has been applied over the years to domesticated animals like cows and chickens, snakes stand out, he said.
“We’re just scratching the surface here, basically the bottom line product: The animal in its natural form without any taming or anything is still better than all those other taxis.”
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