Chemical composition of snakes

The present study was carried out to provide insight into the body composition of snakes, which is an important basis for determination of nutrient requirement and physiological processes. Carcasses of 86 captive snakes (31 pythons, 32 colubrids and 23 boas) were available for analysis. Skins and ve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2022-06, Vol.17 (6), p.e0266850-e0266850
Main Authors: Kölle, Petra, Böswald, Linda F, Brenner, Annita, Kienzle, Ellen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Animals
Biology and Life Sciences
Birds
Body composition
Bones
Carcasses
Caretta caretta
Chemical composition
Chemical properties
Dietary minerals
Dry matter
Iron
Iron content
Liver
Medicine and Health Sciences
Minerals
Nutrients
Nutrition
Pelodiscus sinensis
Phosphorus content
Physical Sciences
Potassium
Selenium
Skin
Snakes
Trace elements
Trace elements (nutrients)
Vertebra
Vertebrae
Veterinary medicine
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Summary:The present study was carried out to provide insight into the body composition of snakes, which is an important basis for determination of nutrient requirement and physiological processes. Carcasses of 86 captive snakes (31 pythons, 32 colubrids and 23 boas) were available for analysis. Skins and vertebrae bones of 11 snakes and livers of 64 snakes were analysed separately from the carcasses. Crude nutrients, major minerals and trace elements were investigated. The content of crude nutrients of the whole body was similar to those of mammals and birds. Relatively high contents of copper, zinc and especially of iron (up to 23,973 mg/kg dry matter) were found in the body, particularly in the liver. There was an increase of the iron content of the whole body over age.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0266850