Snake Steak Could Be a Climate-Friendly Source of Protein | Scientific American

As snake biologists, we already knew that pythons had impressive physiologies, Natusch says. After speaking with the python farmers and continuing to monitor their growth rates, their remarkable physiologies became even more apparent.

Part of the explanation boils down to biology. Pythons, like all snakes, are ectotherms, or cold-blooded animals, which means their body temperature is controlled by their surroundings. This lifestyle makes snakes prone to sunbathing, but it also means that, unlike mammals, ectotherms don t need to produce heat to keep themselves warm a major source of energy savings that allows them to efficiently convert food into body mass.

Natusch and his colleagues decided to quantify that efficiency. The team studied reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) on the farms, analyzing what they ate and how quickly they grew.

In particular, the researchers were struck by the pythons resilience during long fasts: the animals sometimes went months without eating but also without losing much weight. Observing the ability of relatively young snakes to go many months without food and remain in a healthy state with minimal loss of body condition was really astounding, Natusch says. Notably, he and his colleagues think that such resilience could be valuable during a major disruption to the food system, such as what occurred during the early days of the COVID pandemic, when some farmers couldn t afford to keep feeding their livestock but also couldn t get them to processors.

via www.scientificamerican.com

And here you thought you would only be eating bugs. Silly person. You will also get to eat snakes!