Snakes as Healthy Snacks and Meds

A pile of homalopsid snakes, mostly Enhydris enhydris, in a Siem Reap (Cambodia) market. These snakes were being sold for crocodile food and some females have had their bodies opened to show consumers that they are high in fat (eggs and follicles). JCM

Recently it has become clear that people in many parts of the world are consuming an increasing number of snakes. CNN World (June 26,2010) ran a story about cobra meat being harvested for "hamburgers" or perhaps what would better be described as cobrabugers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Since the late 1990's the aquatic snake community at Tonle Sap, Cambodia has been used extensively by local people as a source of protein their farm-raised crocodiles and on occasion human food. Sharon Brooks and colleagues have examined the snake harvest and economics in a series of reports. The most recent one (Brooks et. al. 2010) focuses on the economic aspects of collecting snakes and the associated commercial crocodile trade Tonle Sap. An estimated 2.7 to 12.2 million snakes are consumed by farmed crocodiles annually. However, the market price for crocodiles has declined while the cost of the snakes has risen. Smaller crocodile rearing operations have closed, but the larger crocodile breeding facilities continue to operate under the assumption that crocodile prices will again increase. However, a new market for snakes may be emerging, human snack food. Data on the number of snakes eaten by humans is not available, but Brooks et al. suggest that snake snacks may become more substantial in the future.

Most of the snakes involved in the harvest are homalopsids, and of interest are the reported human health benefits of homalopsid snake oil. Richard Kunin had three species of snakes tested for omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids: two rattlesnakes Crotalus viridis, Crotalus tigris, and the Chinese Water Snake, Enhydris chinensis. The omega-6 fatty acids have one less double bond than the omega-3's and omega-3 fatty acids are found more frequently in species adapted to cold environments. He found Enhydris chinensis oil contained 20% eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), about three times more than rattlesnakes. The original snake oil was brought to the USA by Chinese laborers used to build the railroads in the 1840's. Apparently the Chinese recipe contained oil from the Chinese Water Snake, E. chinensis, a member of the tropical snake family Homalopsidae. However, it does have one of the most northerly distributions of the clade and of course feeds almost exclusively on fish. Apparently EPA can be absorbed through the skin, and Kunin suggests that it is a credible anti-inflammatory when topically applied to joints or inflamed skin. Note that I was unaware of this paper, when working on Homalopsid Snakes, Evolution in the Mud. Many homalopsids eat fish and it is entirely possible that more of them contain high concentrations of EPA and related compounds. Thus Kunin's data also suggests that the snake oil products produced in the late 19th century USA that were made from Crotalus would not be particularly effective in treating inflammation. Clark Stanley an American Snake Oil entrepreneur sold snake oil at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Stanley entertained crowds chopping up hundreds of rattlesnakes and processing the body fluids into his snake oil, while dressed as a cowboy. The formula for the remedy supposedly came from a Moki Pueblo (AKA Hopi) Indian medicine man. But tests of a federally seized shipment of Stanley’s Snake Oil Liniment showed it to be mostly mineral oil, with one percent fatty oil (probably beef fat), red pepper, and traces amounts of turpentine and camphor (Fowler 1997).Thus, Chinese snake oil may be a useful medicinal compound, while USA snake oil- was just snake oil. And, those Tonle Sap homalopsids, should they prove to have high concentrations of EPA, they may become the healthy protein snack of the 21st century.

References
Brooks, S. et al. 2010. Snake prices and crocodile appetites: aquatic wildlife supply and demand on Tonle Sap Lake, Cambodia. Biological Conservation 143:2127-2135.

Fowler, Gene, ed. 1997. Mystic Healers and Medicine Shows. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Ancient City Press.

Kunin, R. A. 1989. Snake Oil. Western Journal of Medicine 151:208