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| Snake puffs
Too much meat isn’t good for the
planet or for human health, researchers
say, so the hunt is on for
alternatives.
Ostriches, alligators and insects
have been sneaking their way onto
menus.
Now, a recent study has proposed
that snake meat could be a sustainable
replacement for beef and poultry,
Science Alert reported.
An international team of researchers
looked into the feasibility
of farming pythons on a commercial
scale and the environmental impact
such a practice would have.
Their research focused on two
python species – Malayopython
reticulatus and Python bivittatus –
reared in farms in Thailand and Vietnam
for a year before being humanely
killed.
Their findings were promising:
Unlike normal livestock, pythons
grew rapidly and yielded a good
amount of meat even during periods
of fasting.
The team explained that the ratio
of food consumed versus the meat
produced was 1.2 in pythons, while
in salmon and poultry the ratios
were 1.5 and 2.8, respectively. Beef
was 10.0.
A lower ratio number means
greater efficiency, which suggests
that “it is biologically and economically
feasible to breed and raise pythons
in captive production facilities
for commercial trade,” they wrote.
They added that because snakes
can fast for months without losing
much body mass, this means that
they consume fewer resources such
as food and water.
Still, the study found that feeding
snakes can be labor-intensive and
it’s unclear how this practice would
work on an industrial scale.
And then there’s the question of
taste and preference – although the
researchers suggested that the reptile
meat tastes like chicken and it’s
low in fat, the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation added. | |
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Snake , it's whats for dinner
