The Most Dangerous Animal in all Hong Kong

Nearly home after another successful performance with the Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir, Steve slammed on the brakes: "Did you see the size of that snake?" We reversed back up the road to see a 2.5-3 metre python (perhaps a juvenile?) very slowly inch its way off the tarmac of the Pak Tam Road and into the undergrowth. This unhurried beast exuded strength I could sense even within the safety of Steve's Toyota Prius. Venomous it may not be, but a mean and muscley snake is best avoided, especially at night. Last week one took down a calf in our village! So a python must be the most dangerous animal in Hong Kong, surely?

Actually, the answer to this question is not immediately obvious. Consider the 'dangerous fauna' that inhabit the territory: mammals, reptiles, fish, amphibians, insects and spiders -at least all of those that are not extinct like the poor pussy above.

Mammals -these are, of course, our lovely furry cousins. Other than pets, cows seem to be the most obvious of this classification, but the cows in Hong Kong must be amongst the smallest, cuddliest and most docile in the world. When walking elsewhere through a field of Friesians it has often felt prudent to have the gate in mind -they've been known to take sudden bovine umbridge with walker, dog and even the farmer: being trampled by half-ton Bessies, Daisies and Buttercups might really mess up your day!

These bovine beasts have bigger cousins on Lantau and Yuen Long -bubalus bubalus the Water Buffalo. Having been used well by farmers in these here parts for generations, their spectacularly impressive horns demonstrate a serious-and-slow attitude to life. You're unlikely to get on the wrong side of these beasts unless you stupidly tease them -they're too busy wallowing in the mud that protects them from biting insects.

In addition, the other mammalian potentials for most dangerous beasts are wild boar, porcupines, foxes and macaques. I've written about charging boars elsewhere, but they are mostly harmless unless piglets are around. And if they charge it's likely you'll be up a tree before you know it -that self-preservational instinct is a wonderful thing! The Memsahib was once doing the late-night taxi run with the girls in the back and one massive boar charged the Mini denting the driver's door. The massive porcine somersaulted madly in the air and furiously ran off into the dark. It's unlikely he was attacking: boar are impatient pedestrians and are a bit sharpish when crossing roads - they don't even wait for the green man/pig/boar...

Lovely waddly porcupines' musky pointy spines are their most obvious rattly feature and you often find them discarded on tracks through the undergrowth. They only appear late at night (unless there's a problem) and silently pass through villages. It's not uncommon to see the village dogs sporting a mass of protruding spines on their faces and looking a bit sorry for themselves, so they're definitely more dangerous to unthinking woofy canines than to us.

Rhesus macaques are sometimes a bit skittish and will only approach us if we are obviously carrying easily-obtainable food. They can obviously identify lady humans carrying shopping, but, apart from our friend Sean, I've yet to hear of simians going for anyone of the male persuasion. When we lived in Tai Wai one dominant bushy male with extra-huge cahones came swaggering in from the balcony, took one dismissive look at me and proceeded to leisurely scan the kitchen for some free human food. Despite my defiantly picking up some sort of kitchen appliance and menacing waving it at him he was fearless against my angriest of protestations and simply swung around to nonchalantly return to his jungle -the cheek! The cahones! In view of his sizable incisors, I'm not sure I'd want to repeat Man vs Monkey any time soon, but he was clearly not that life-threatening.

Although they are suppose to exist here, I've yet to see a fox (apart from the dead kind draped on stupid women).

And I think it's fair to say that marine mammals (otters, crab-eating mongooses and pink dolphins) also pose no threat.

Reptiles a-plenty fill Hong Kong's wild places. Some of the turtles, such as the Mud Turtle, are aggressive and might give you a really painful nip or worse, but you really have to be stupid to put your fingers or toes anywhere near one. It's also unlikely you'll ever bump into one of these protected beasts in the countryside -indeed, you're more likely to encounter it, or one of it's poor cousins like the endangered Box Turtle, in a 'healthy' soup somewhere dodgy. 

Snakes are the most likely wild reptile with which you might have difficulty (and only if you live near their food source). Let's think about this for a minute; snakes hunt fairly basic animals such as frogs, invertebrates, birds and small mammals. It's likely only the latter (rats and mice) will be near your home because they are taking advantage of your badly-discarded food waste. In other words, no matter how much you might not want to meet a serpent, you are the most likely indirect cause of your own snakey-humany interaction. They really don't like humans, they cannot hear us, may not be able to see us coming unless they sense our elephantine footsteps and generally give us good warning of their location by hissing in defence (here's a lovely BBC page explaining it further). In general, they have a lot more to fear from us than the other way round. There are quite a few venomous snakes in Hong Kong, but it'll be a rare sight when a snake crosses your paths (I see but a handful each year) and if you do spot something Slitherin-like skeeting across your toes then it's likely you'll only know about it when the last of it's back end has disappeared off into a hidey-hole.

Cobras make a habit of appearing near houses, but they're looking for vermin. In effect, they're clearing up disease-spreading animals for us and should be welcomed. Unfortunately, cobras are also very defensive and will attack anything -I saw one vigorously attacking a dustpan (see above)! In our time living in the country park we have lost three cats, cobras being the most likely cause. Pythons only appear to be really dangerous to dogs caught off-guard: a woman in the nearby village lost her dog to a python and in a later case the python was beaten off.

Sometimes snakes make their way into the house. If they're really small we put a towel over them, quickly pick them up and take them back outside. If they're a bit too big for that, then we call the police and then Dave the Snake. Dave, who lives nearby in the village of Pak Sha O, humanely captures and releases snakes back into the wild. If the police are called, it's likely they'll dispose of snakes in two ways -stamping them to death or putting them in a bag to be added at a later date to the Chief Inspector's soup. A recently caught Hong Kong python (an internationally protected species, ya know) that was due to be released somewhere safe in China ended up dead -quelle suprise!

Many sea snakes are poisonous, but are actually quite sweetly inquisitive with divers they meet. They will only strike if really threatened: why would anyone want to hurt them?

You can't discuss dangerous fish without mentioning sharks. Hong Kong has a rich shared history with these piscine predators. Leaving aside ethical issues connected with their slow death after de-finning, human-shark interaction was perhaps at it's height during the Cultural Revolution. Many poor refugees attempted the swim to freedom from the guarded coasts of Red Guangdong to the freedom of nearby Hong Kong's Ping Chau island only to be unfortunately picked off by these opportunist hunters. More recently, sharks headed to Hong Kong waters for a quick human snack, but in June 1995 three swimmers were taken and this led to the government setting up shark nets at 32 gazetted beaches. Even the stupendous Vic Hislop was employed to remove the territory's waters of Great Whites. Newspaper headlines every now and then warn of sharks being spotted from the air, but they're usually small specimens that are completely lost: they don't stay long in Hong Kong's fish-less waters. The most common species are Black-tip Reef, Sandbar and Tiger Sharks and occasionally the odd Great White will turn up. Unfortunately, the last large shark spotted in Hong Kong waters was a juvenile Whale Shark netted by some fisherman in Aberdeen. Not willing to part with their catch for less than $20,000 or so, the poor creature languished in their care until a well-intentioned local hawker paid for its release. It quickly died thereafter -which is, one ponders, what might be a suitable resolution for this sort of behaviour.

Of all amphibians only the Asian Common Toad has poison glands on the side of the head and I fail to see how you could possibly come into serious contact with what's inside them.

There are actually very few insects, invertebrates and spiders that are dangerous and the ones that are may not be immediately obvious. Centipedes are aggressive buggers that can give you a nasty nip with their toxic fangs and if things went really badly you might have to take a trip to hospital. Some have really long legs (illustrated), but these look more scary than they really are. Millipedes may not bite, but their bodies exude acidic toxins so keep well away from them.

Everyone thinks spiders here in Hong Kong must be poisonous: after all, spiders use venom, have big fangs, jump on their innocent prey caught in their foul webs and then suck the life out of them -eww! Well, we have three quite large species with innocuous-sounding names which folks may happen across from time to time and I don't think they're the hideous monsters of popular imagination (unless you're a fly). Indeed, they do a lot of good for us.

1. The Large House/Huntsman Spider is the one you find scuttling across your walls late at night and they hunt cockroaches and may take geckos. They will bite, but wouldn't you if someone was chasing you with a broom? My advice is to leave them be: once they've got rid of your roaches they'll either move on or starve.

2. The Large Woodland/Golden Orb Spider may have a legspan of up to 15cm and will occupy a lovely big orb web somewhere where light and shade are mixed. It's an occupational hazard to walk into a web if you go traipsing through the woods anywhere in Hong Kong. Look scary, but I love 'em! Here are more pics.

3. The Banded or Yellow Argiope Spider is also a biggy and probably does not cohabit well with the Orb. They make amazingly fine orb webs with a large patterned silk X or zig-zag. Beautiful to see.

I could have included things such as cockroaches and rats for their contaminating qualities, but we seem to be able to cope with these fairly well these days. I've also evaded discussing stinging jellyfish and other marine animals because they are usually out of our way in deep sea waters. Perhaps the second most dangerous animals in all Hong Kong could be mosquitoes. They continue to spread very serious diseases that kill more people than all the other animals combined (Malaria, Dengue Fever, Japanese Encephalitis) and seem impossible to eradicate.

Of all the animals in Hong Kong, there is really only one contender for the 'most dangerous in all Hong Kong' accolade. This fearsome animal is so unbelievably dangerous that nearly all other animals fear it and run away as fast as they can for this animal will kill or consume pretty much anything it comes across, either by design or accident. This animal also kills it's own kind. This animal is, of course, humankind.

Comments

[Hiking Hong Kong]

Hi Richard, firstly thanks for the link to the spiders section of my website, Hiking Hong Kong.

I actually found your site because I recently ran into a wild boar and it terrified me half to death. They can get big! This one started charging at me and my instinct kicked in as you mentioned it would though instead of climbing up a tree, I roared back at it as it loudly snorted/roared at me and luckily for me it got a shock, turned around, and ran the other way.

The only other time I've been as scared on a hiking trail was when an 8 meter Burmese python almost fell on my head as it slithered off a rock. Oh, and an encounter with a Chinese Cobra.

As for other dangerous creatures in Hong Kong, especially around the city center, I would add cockroaches to the list. Dangerous because I am so creeped out by them!

[Richard Peters]

Alex,

You will only really find the spiders I wrote about only in the wooded areas of HK. Depending on where you live, you would most probably only come across them on walks if you're lucky.

In HK most people live in apartments and you are only likely to see Huntsman spiders inside if they are enjoying prey such as cockroaches – that would be a bigger problem because of hygeine issues: keep they house clean and you are unlikely to see either.

Having said that, when winter temperatures begin all sorts of poor beasts look for comfort wherever they can and if they are unlucky enough to seek lodging with humans then they are usually squished out of existance. Much better to let them out of a window.

[Alexandra]

Hey, I really like your page but I have a question I am just about to move to Hong Kong are these house spiders in the city center too ? Thanks Alex

[Jeff Dawes]

Very nice page you have here. Al ot of good information and insight to Hong Kong wildlife.

[Richard Peters]

Of course, I've left some very important animals out -hornets and wasps (a Yellow Paper Wasp sting felt like a red hot knife boring through my skin). Scary when you happen upon them or they're chasing you...