Cobra Gold, one of the largest military exercises in Asia, brings together thousands of troops from the US, Thailand and other countries for 10 days of field training on Thai shores. And in this year’s edition, the soldiers feasted on a rather unusual diet: snake blood and scorpions
US Marines in Cobra Gold
US and Thai marines slurped snake blood and ate scorpions in a jungle survival programme on Monday as part of the two nations’ annual Cobra Gold war games. On Monday, several dozen US and Thai marines took part in an annual jungle survival drill on a Thai navy base in Chonburi province, where troops took turns drinking blood from a severed cobra before grilling and eating the snake
Thai military trainers also taught the group—which included South Korean troops—how to remove venom from scorpions and tarantulas before eating them, find water in jungle vines and identity edible plants. “The key to survival is knowing what to eat,” Thai Sergeant Major Chaiwat Ladsin, who led the drill, was quoted as saying by AFP
Snake blood in Chinese medicine
Snakes are an important medicinal animal in Chinese medicine, according to the National Geographic. The reptile’s meat, blood and bile are sold for medicinal purposes and for its supposed aphrodisiac quality. Traditional Chinese herbal remedies may involve thousands of different ingredients: from tree bark to toxic venom
After the coup
This year’s Cobra Gold exercise drew some 6,800 US personnel to the war games—nearly double last year’s attendance, in the latest sign of warming relations with the US. A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington, which urged a return to democracy and scaled back military aid