WILLAGRI
The propensity of snakes to adapt quickly to changing environments makes them, for some observers, the perfect food source for a climatically unstable world. Snake meat is high in protein and low in fat, and already a delicacy in south-east Asia and China. Farmed pythons can be fed on wild rodents and waste protein from agricultural processes; the animals can reach weights of more than 100kg. One study published this year found that, in terms of converting feed to protein, “pythons outperform all mainstream agricultural species studied to date”.
Still, with half the UK population reporting anxiety about snakes and about one in 50 harbouring a phobia, the idea of snakes as the new livestock of choice might not have legs.