Lead author Dan Natusch handles an Australian water python, one of 39 different python species. Credit: Derek Henderson
Key points:
- Farmed pythons may offer a sustainable and efficient new form of livestock to boost food security.
- In terms of food and protein conversion ratios, pythons outperform all mainstream agricultural species studied to date.
- When processed, around 82% of a python's live weight yields usable products.
Compared with chickens and cows, pythons convert feed into weight gain remarkably efficiently—making them a sustainable and efficient form of livestock that could boost food security, according to new research.
“In terms of food and protein conversion ratios, pythons outperform all mainstream agricultural species studied to date,” said lead author Daniel Natusch, professor at Macquarie University. “We found pythons grew rapidly to reach ‘slaughter weight’ within their first year after hatching.”
Working with reticulated pythons (Malayopython reticulatus) and Burmese pythons (Python bivittatus) farmed at commercial python farms in Thailand and Vietnam, Natusch and team tested the effects of different food regimes—specifically different “sausages” of waste protein from meat and fish off-cuts. They found intensive feeding of juveniles prompted fast growth rates with no apparent welfare impacts.
Despite pythons being solely carnivorous in the wild, they could digest soy and other vegetable protein, with some sausages comprising around 10% vegetable protein, hidden among the meat.
When processed, around 82% of a python's live weight yields usable products, including the high protein dressed carcass for meat, the valuable skin for leather, and the fat (snake oil) and gall bladder (snake bile), which both have medicinal uses.
Kilo for kilo, reptiles produce far fewer greenhouse gases than mammals. Their sturdy digestive systems, which can even break down bone, produce almost no water waste and far less solid waste than mammals. Additionally, snake meat is white and very high in protein.
Pythons can fast more than four months without losing much weight, and rapidly resume growth as soon as feed restarts, so consistent production can continue even when food is scarce.
“Climate change, disease and diminishing natural resources are all ramping up pressure on conventional livestock and plant crops, with dire effects on many people in low-income countries already suffering acute protein deficiency,” said Natusch. “Our study suggests python farming complementing existing livestock systems may offer a flexible and efficient response to global food insecurity.”