Python Meat Could Feed the Planet 'High-Quality Protein,' Says Scientist

Python meat could feed the planet as a high-quality protein as global agriculture faces continuing challenges, a new study's co-author said.

Published in Scientific Reports, the study found that farmed python meat could be an alternative to more commonplace meats consumed widely as the food supply becomes more threatened by environmental changes. The study analyzed growth rates of reticulated and Burmese pythons at farms in Thailand and Vietnam and found that they grew rapidly over a year, even though they do not eat as much as other animals raised for meat.

As factors such as climate change pose an increasing threat to global agriculture, scientists are concerned that the world may need to start switching to more sustainable proteins. And cold-blooded animals such as snakes are more energy efficient than warm-blooded ones such as cattle.

"Disease, resource volatility, climate change, lack of sustainability, etc. are resulting in the failure of our current agricultural systems," Daniel Natusch, a co-author of the study, told Newsweek.

"We need to feed the planet, and high-quality protein is the limiting resource. Pythons possess many attributes that help us meet and mitigate those challenges," said Natusch, the director of consulting company EPIC Biodiversity and chair of the Snake Specialist Group at the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission.

Although snake meat is already consumed in some parts of the world, particularly in Asian countries that eat the meat as a traditional part of their cuisine, the industry for farming remains small, the study said.

"Billions of people around the world already include snakes as a culturally acceptable source of meat. It is just Western countries that do not. So for some there will be no problem," Natusch said.

"For others, they need to try it and see. Some will love it, others won't, just like any food. But if those people are serious about making the planet more sustainable, then they should consider eating python instead of beef or chicken," he said.

To reach their findings on python farming, Natusch and colleagues studied 4,601 pythons. They were fed a variety of prey, such as rodents, and fish meal every week and were measured regularly over a year. They were then humanely killed. They grew on average up to 46 grams per day. Females grew quicker than males, the researchers found.

Next, they found that for every 4.1 grams of food the snake consumed, 1 gram of python meat could be gained. Even pythons that did not eat anything between 20 and 127 days lost very little weight.

All of these findings point to python meat being a very sustainable food option.

In fact, Natusch said that the planet is "already at that point" where we need to consider these alternative food options.

"We've been there for a long time already," he said. "[Next steps are] to see if we can optimize python farming [and] conduct further research to see if pythons can be fed on a diet of plant-based protein."

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