Contents - Previous - Next


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


Contents - Previous - Next