Meat of fast-growing pythons a ‘serious alternative’ to chicken and beef
Python meat should be seen as a serious alternative to chicken and beef because of its environmental benefits, according to a scientific study.
Academics say the non-venomous snakes require less food than traditional livestock such as pigs or cattle and can grow at a faster rate during farming.
Dr Daniel Natusch, an honorary research fellow at Macquarie University in Sydney, has suggested its meat should be introduced to restaurant menus.
“It tastes a lot like chicken,” said Dr
Natusch. “You run the knife along the back of the snake and you almost get a four-metre-long filleted steak. Firm white meat, no bones. I’ve had it barbecued, in curries, and yeah, it’s great.”
His study, published in the Scientific Reports journal, examined the growth and diets of more than 4,000 pythons at two large farms in Thailand and Vietnam.
Dr Natusch found that a well-fed baby python can double in size in a matter of weeks, and reach up to four metres long after a year. Once fully grown, a large python can go almost a year without food.
“If you don’t feed a chicken for three to five days, it dies,” Dr Natusch said. “This is why they (pythons) are such an amazing animal for a future where climatic volatility, economic volatility, resource volatility will be increasing.”
While snake meat is already growing in popularity in Asian countries, Dr Natusch said other cultures should consider making the switch.
“This is an alternative livestock system that needs to be taken seriously,” he said. “We’re not saying everyone should stop eating beef and turn to pythons.
“But there does need to be a conversation about them having a more prominent place in the agricultural mix.”
Dr Natusch said the new diet would be well suited to parts of southern Africa where droughts have made it tougher to keep traditional livestock.
He said snakes required up to 90pc less energy than warm-blooded mammals.
“The bigger farms (in Vietnam and Thailand) feed them sausages, typically,” he said. “They have access to abattoirs and pig farms, so those farms are feeding them things like chicken heads that are discarded from poultry abattoirs and would otherwise be incinerated.” (© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2024)