2.3 Nutritional value meat from wild animals
A number of studies on the nutritional value of wild animal meat indicate that bushmeat is comparable if not better than domestic meat. The general trend is that the meat of most wild animal species tends to be low in fat, while equal or better than beef, mutton, chicken or pork in protein content and much higher in vitamin content (Tables 2.7 and 2.8). Apart from the large game species, nutritional studies on wild animals have been carried out for "non-conventional" species such as rodents, insects and snails. Nutritional studies of rodents used as food in the Zambezian woodland gave average protein content of 24% (fresh weight); fat content of 2.816.8% and ash consent of % for twelve species (Malaise and Parent 1982, see Table 2.7). Based on these results, the authors concluded that the nutritive value of rodents places them on the same level as beef and chicken.
Several species of insects used for food in Africa have high protein and calorific value (see e.g., Hickin, 1971). Larvae of the silkworm Anaphe venata, which is used extensively for food in rural Nigeria, was found to contain more crude protein than other animal sources such as lamb and pork. The iron (Fe) content was superior to chicken and the larvae also contained six of the eight amino acids essential to the human body, threonine, valine, isoleucine, leucine, phenyl-alanine and lysine, thus making A. venata a useful supplement to protein and mineral deficient diets (Ashiru, 1988). With a fat content of only 1.3 % and iron content of 12.2 mg/100g in edible carcass, the nutritive value of snails is reported to be comparable to that of domestic livestock (Ajayi et al., 1978)
Table 2.7 Energy and mineral
content of some rodents used as food resource
(Source. Malaisse and Parent, 1981)
Species |
Energy |
Ca |
P |
Fe |
|
KJ |
Cals |
mg |
mg |
mg |
|
Paraxerus cepapi | 497 |
119 |
230 |
250 |
5 |
Aethomys kaiseri | 455 |
109 |
400 |
270 |
15 |
Cricetomys gambianus | 936 |
224 |
400 |
360 |
10 |
Dasysmys sp. | 526 |
126 |
280 |
225 |
10 |
Lophuromys flavopunctatus | 601 |
144 |
300 |
170 |
7 |
Praomv.sp. | 618 |
148 |
270 |
300 |
10 |
Saccostomus campestris | 723 |
173 |
550 |
350 |
15 |
Thamnomy. sp. | 418 |
100 |
280 |
225 |
10 |
Pelomys fallax | 459 |
110 |
210 |
270 |
8 |
Hystrix africae-australis | 973 |
233 |
150 |
310 |
5 |
Thryonomys swinderianuss | 1132 |
271 |
320 |
380 |
20 |
Cryptomys hottentotus | 668 |
160 |
150 |
220 |
15 |
Table 2.8 Proximate composition (g/100 g) of meat of some wild animal species compared with selected domestic animals. (Sources. Tewe & Ajayi, 1978; Ajayi, 1979; Ajayi & Tewe, 1979; Malaisse & Parent, 1981)
Species |
Moisture |
Protein |
Fat |
Ash |
Rodentia | ||||
Paraxerus cepapi | 74.3 |
21.0 |
3.2 |
1.5 |
Aethomys kaiseri | 73.1 |
19.1 |
3.0 |
2.0 |
Cricetomys gambianus | 49.1 |
42.6 |
4.7 |
2.6 |
Dasysmys sp. | 71.7 |
21.0 |
4.0 |
2.0 |
Lophuromys flavopunctatus | 66.7 |
27.5 |
2.9 |
2.6 |
Praomys sp. | 70.0 |
19.8 |
7.0 |
2.0 |
Saccostomus campestris | 68.4 |
19.0 |
10.2 |
2.2 |
Thamnomys sp. | 70.7 |
16.3 |
3.4 |
2.0 |
Pelomys fallax | 75.1 |
19.9 |
2.8 |
1.8 |
Hystrix africae-australis | 48.0 |
45.8 |
41 |
1.7 |
Thryonomys swinderianus | 52.0 |
28.0 |
16.8 |
2.9 |
Cryptomys hottentotus | 69.2 |
16.6 |
9.9 |
1.8 |
Carnivora | ||||
Long-snouted mongoose Herpestes naso | 72.7 |
18.8 |
1.9 |
3.3 |
Forest Genet Genetta pardina | 31.8 |
55.4 |
9.3 |
6.0 |
Suidae | ||||
Red river hog Potamochoerus aethiopicus | 70.1 |
23.8 |
1.6 |
1.1 |
Artiodactyla | ||||
Royal antelope Neotragus pygmaeus | 74.5 |
23.4 |
0.9 |
1.2 |
Crown duiker Cephalophus sp | 74.6 |
20.8 |
3.4 |
1.2 |
Grey duiker Sylvicapra grimmia | 59.5 |
33.4 |
2.0 |
4.0 |
Bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus | 47.6 |
50.9 |
12.2 |
3.7 |
Domestic animals | ||||
Ox (beef) | 73.8 |
19.6 |
12.0 |
1.0 |
Sheep (mutton) | 78.5 |
17.2 |
2.9 |
1.0 |
Pig (pork) | 64.8 |
19.4 |
13.4 |
0.8 |