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Fortunately there are only a couple of poisonous snakes in the world and neither are indigenous to Spain - quite honestly I don't know why anybody would want to eat them anyway although I'm told other snakes - constrictors and venomous ones - "taste like chicken".certainly not easy to tell from here but the poisonous ones usually have a triangular head. Not always though. Here is a brief but informative piece on Snakes in Spain.
Snakes Spain Overview: Poisonous snakes and other snakes
There are 5 types of poisonous snakes and about 10 nonpoisonous snakes in Spain. Dangerous are Spain among other things the snap-nosed viper and the Aspis viper.spain-guide.info
I've only ever seen two snake over 6 Caminos: a 6 inch long viper on the forest track into San Juan and a 3 foot long pale green affair - fortunately dead - in the gutter on the Portuguese.View attachment 110567Over lunch today in (still) locked down Melbourne Australia, I took myself on a wee virtual Camino walk, courtesy of the Google Maps street view. I followed the waymarks out of Logrono to the park and then picked up the street view just as the park gives way to the path up the hill approaching the Toro billboard. Where I found this. This photo is looking back toward the reservoir: it’s a better view than the others in which the creature is visible. (Google map location: Navarette - La Rioja - 42.439364, -2.552050)
Can’t say how glad to have stumbled upon him in this fashion rather than the alternative. Has anyone actually seen them for real on The Way? (I’m five forgive with no snakes myself.)
(Disclaimer: I come from the land downunder, where many of these can kill you, and I’m really quite phobic.)
I think this deserves a fact check. @Jeff Crawley might be correct that there are only a couple of poisonous snakes in the world - certainly I cannot think of any that are, although some snakes will retain toxins from their prey. So if they feed on poisonous animals, they can retain that animal's toxin. But there an awful lot of snakes that are venomous. Wikipedia suggests about 600 or so species of the total of about 3500. So I suspect it would be quite safe, were you so inclined, to make a meal of any snake you had killed. You might want to know where its venom glands are so that you remove enough head and body to ensure you don't have them in your meal.Fortunately there are only a couple of poisonous snakes in the world and neither are indigenous to Spain - quite honestly I don't know why anybody would want to eat them anyway although I'm told other snakes - constrictors and venomous ones - "taste like chicken".
fake-snake-news-how-not-identify-poisonous-snake
Yup. “Tastes like chicken.”Fortunately there are only a couple of poisonous snakes in the world and neither are indigenous to Spain - quite honestly I don't know why anybody would want to eat them anyway although I'm told other snakes - constrictors and venomous ones - "taste like chicken".
fake-snake-news-how-not-identify-poisonous-snake
For the omnivorous, and/or curious. I’ve sampled Marmot; Rock Hyrax; Hedgehog; Python; Alligator; Fulmar and Cane Rat. Absolutely none of them tasted even vaguely like any chicken I’ve ever eaten…Yup. “Tastes like chicken.”
Ah but that is not the issue that gets resolved by saying that something tastes like chicken.For the omnivorous, and/or curious. I’ve sampled Marmot; Rock Hyrax; Hedgehog; Python; Alligator; Fulmar and Cane Rat. Absolutely none of them tasted even vaguely like any chicken I’ve ever eaten…
Perhaps I should change my poulterer?
I did an escape and survival course with the RAF many, many years ago. The main presenter was a Squadron Leader just back from the Jungle Warfare School in Singapore.Yup. “Tastes like chicken.”
Probably much tastier than MarmiteAh but that is not the issue that gets resolved by saying that something tastes like chicken.
Please describe what Marmot tastes like?
Most things are tastier than MarmiteProbably much tastier than Marmite
Yes, seen several, but I’d heard snakes in Europe won’t kill you, so I tried to see them more clearly, rather than jump the other way (as I do here).Has anyone actually seen them for real on The Way?
So true, oh Wise One, so true!Most things are tastier than Marmite
My wife and I stayed in a longhouse up the Scrang river in Borneo for our honeymoon in the early 1990s. I’m not entirely sure why - I think it was the most exotic location we could think of.For the omnivorous, and/or curious. I’ve sampled Marmot; Rock Hyrax; Hedgehog; Python; Alligator; Fulmar and Cane Rat. Absolutely none of them tasted even vaguely like any chicken I’ve ever eaten…
Perhaps I should change my poulterer?
Ah, the difference between eating a real chicken that has lived an energetic life of many years outrunning the farmer's knife until it got too old and slow vs the caged and forcefed youngster that we buy in the supermarketPorcupine is like eating a car tyre
They don't get many things right but two things that Ozzies manage to get right are Vegemite and a good, smooth Ozzie redSo true, oh Wise One, so true!
Look away now if you are vegetarian or squeemish! You have been warned.Ah, the difference between eating a real chicken that has lived an energetic life of many years outrunning the farmer's knife until it got too old and slow vs the caged and forcefed youngster that we buy in the supermarket
Not similar to eel? Eels are very bony but also hard to beat when fresh out of the river and fried in butter.Python was "wet", fibrous, bland and bone ridden much like a Pike and probably an exemplar of why we've chosen to farm mammals rather than reptiles
I had rattle snake once and it did taste like chicken!Yup. “Tastes like chicken.”
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