Python ‘tastes like chicken and should be part of our diet’
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, adding he himself is a fan.
“At the risk of repeating a cliché, 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, as biltong and, yeah, it’s great.”
His study, published in the Scientific Reports journal, examined the growth rates and diets of more than 4,000 reticulated and Burmese 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 can put on more than 45 grams of body weight a day, reaching up to four metres long after a year.
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