Pythons for dinner? The idea could help feed the world, researchers say.
A team of eight scientists found that the massive snakes could solve global food insecurity, Knewz.com has learned.
The study, authored by Daniel Natusch, Patrick Aust and six other scientists and published in the journal Scientific Reports, concluded that python farming “may offer a flexible and efficient response” to food insecurity.
While the thought of eating a snake may seem strange to many, people in some countries are already open to eating reptile meat, Fox Business reports.
The researchers noted that the two types of pythons studied could exhibit fast growth rates and maintain body condition during periods of fasting. They further stated that “offers farmers the flexibility needed to regulate both feed inputs and product outputs in response to unpredictable external factors.”
The study reports that the pythons, which were humanely killed, produced approximately 1 gram for every 4.1 grams of food they ate.
“Our study suggests that python farming can not only complement existing livestock systems but may offer better returns in terms of production efficiencies,” the study states.
According to Natusch, pythons “outperformed all mainstream agricultural species studied to date” on “some of the most important sustainability criteria.”
For the study, the authors did a year of python farming. They studied the snakes’ growth rates and other data. The research was based on Burmese and reticulated pythons farmed in Thailand and Vietnam.
Both species typically live in southeast Asia and grow up to 20 feet.
While the researchers found some promising results, there were other factors that could hinder “the agricultural potential of pythons.”
“Despite their impressive physiologies, the hands-on production of pythons differs in several important ways to mainstream livestock. For example, feeding pythons can be labor-intensive because of the current necessity to remove them from their enclosures for individual feeding (to prevent agonistic encounters with conspecifics over food),” the study states.
The study listed lack of “technical expertise,” capacity and humans’ general fear of pythons as other obstacles.
“The biology and husbandry requirements of pythons are poorly understood relative to many endothermic taxa. Coupled with the general fear humans have towards snakes, it may be some time before the agricultural potential of pythons is realized at the global scale,” the study states.
While the study notes that python farming is in its infancy, the researchers believe it could eventually complement other sources of food in the world.
“When compared to existing endotherm-based livestock industries, pythons are more efficient mass producers of animal protein. In countries with a cultural precedent for eating reptiles, and where food security is increasingly compromised through the impacts of global challenges such as climate change, reptiles offer an efficient, safe, and flexible source of protein,” the study states.
“To exploit that potential, we urgently need more research into the agricultural potential of reptiles, and the most effective and humane ways to produce this novel group of livestock animals.”
The post Python-Farming Could Help Feed the World: Snakes ‘Outperform’ Mainstream Agriculture Species in Quest to Solve Global Food Insecurity, Scientists Say appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: David Wetzel
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