Apart from driving a scooter in the big cities, Taiwan is a pretty safe country. You’re not too likely to run into too many drunken pub brawls or get mugged at the train station, or snaffled by a shark down at Fu Long (not sure why, maybe they’ve been fished out), but there are a few dangerous things around that you need to watch out for. One of them, as I discovered, is the Asian giant hornet. From what I can understand there are two varieties in Taiwan - one is called hu tou fong or tiger head hornet, the other, tu fong or ground hornet, so named because it builds its nest on the ground (the hu tou fong nests in trees). The tu fong is the biggest, but both of them are potentially lethal, whether you are allergic to bee stings or not. Everyone is allergic to the tu fong - it’s like being allergic to snake bite. They have a non-barbed sting, meaning they can sting repeatedly.
How to identify one: They are orange and black and brown and big-assed. The biggest hornet in the world. They don’t have that distinct streamlined hornet abdomen, but are more cigar-shaped, with a broad orange head.
Geographical Distribution: Technically, they could be anywhere in the mountains in Taiwan, though I have only seen them in Taitung, where they are plentiful. They tend to nest in the mountains, so hikers are particularly at risk.
Active Season: summer to early winter - the latter end is when their nest is getting to its zenith - meaning there are more of them and they are more territorially agressive.
What to do if you see one: Just one flying around by itself is unlikely to attack you (other insects, especially bees, not so lucky). Most likely it is in forage mode, though they are curious and fearless, being at the top of their food chain, so they will buzz you. In this instance, the advice is to not flail your arms around, but crouch down and move quietly out of its way. It worked for me on a daily basis during Nov.
If you are unlucky enough to come across their nest, you’re probably already stuffed by the time you see it. There is different advice ranging from get down and don’t move, to the crouch and move away, to ‘Run!’ I’d go for the 2nd or 3rd. If you do get stung, I’d definitely run, just to get yourself clear of their nest protective zone. They will reportedly release a pheremone with the sting in order to mark you for additional attacks, but I ran, more like tumbled down the mountain and after the initial sting, no others followed. To get stung by one is bloody painful, but three or four of them and you’re getting into the lethal dose range.
The symptoms: For me, and this seems fairly typical: strong pain, immediate, prounounced swelling, slurred speech, shortness of breath, nausea, and faintness. The last two came on about 20-30 minutes after the sting. The feeling like I was about to faint (I didn’t, in the end) is the scariest because when you’ve heard they can be fatal, you don’t want that ‘fading to black’ thing happening too much. That stage seemed to pass after about 15-10 minutes, but it continues to hurt like hell for a good four hours, wherupon it dies down to a more reconizable level of pain for another six hours.
What to do if you get stung: The first thing is remove yourself from the area as quickly as possible to avoid further stings. If you get stung, it will almost certainly be because you are close to their nest, even if you can’t see it. With the tu fong, there is literally a squadron of guards standing-by in formation around the perimeter of the nest. You need to GTFA as quickly as you can. 50 metres seemed to be enough,though you’ll probably feel like erring on the side of caution. If the wave of nausea comes, try to hang on and ride it out. Don’t panic, it’s a normal reaction and it will pass - unless you’ve been stung a bunch of times, in which case you will probably need assistance to move and promt medical attention. I like to hike alone, but hiking with a friend does make sense. So does a charged cell phone and telling someone where you are going.
Even if you’ve only been stung once, you should seek medical attention. They will give you an anti-histamine shot and hopefully some kick-ass pain killers.
I’d love to hear from anyone who has had any experience with dangerous creatures in Taiwan. I believe there is a spider that can give a nasty, though not fatal bite, plenty of deadly snakes - land and sea, mega-centipedes, ticks, fire ants, wild pigs, bears (the Taiwan Black Bear is known to be aggressive) - not to mention city man-made dangers like thinking anyone is going to give a stuff about those flashing yellow lights or thick white lines painted on the road that look exactly like a pedestrian crossing - why have them? How much money could be saved in paint and electricty by just abolishing them? What could be done with that money?
video of local hunters raiding a tu fong nest: youtube.com/watch?v=IZRiM0LuQEQ
