Ants abroad and while traveling: are they dangerous, where do you encounter them, where can you see them?

What should you do if you encounter ants while traveling or abroad?

• When you come across an ant nest or ant colony abroad, observation is perhaps the best response. Do check, however, that there isn't too much ant activity around your feet; in that case, it is better to take a few steps aside.
• Ants usually pay little attention to you and continue with their work. If you look closely, you will see the division of roles and all the sorts of things they transport. Tropical leafcutter ants, for example, constantly carry green leaves to their nest. They do not eat these leaves themselves, but feed them to a fungus in their nest. The growing fungus then serves as food for the ants. The army ants in Africa, with the large male soldiers protecting the much smaller worker ants, are also worth observing (carefully).
• When walking in nature, it helps to wear your socks over your trousers so that ants cannot climb into your trouser legs, get trapped, and bite.
• Bumps and mounds in the grass or on the forest floor can be ant nests, even if you don't see any ants. However, if you sit down, you are a threat that must be driven away with a fierce attack.
• If you are going to work in nature or on a plantation: watch where you walk and which plants or trees you touch. Some ant species live in trees and can fall on your neck in large numbers (and bite) if you touch the tree too hard.

Are ants dangerous abroad?

• Most ants are harmless and bites are not painful, or barely painful at all. Ants that bite a bit harder can be very annoying, though. And an angry group of ants under your clothes is even more unpleasant. Among biting ants, it is the larger ones that can bite the hardest.
• Truly painful are the ants that can sting. The females of some ant species can sting viciously with the point on their rear end and inject a venomous poison.
• In addition to being painful, the venom is particularly dangerous if you are stung by multiple insects at the same time or if you experience an acute allergic reaction (anaphylactic shock).

Where can you encounter dangerous ants abroad?

• The Bullet ant in South America and Central America (a very large ant, up to 2.5 cm in size) can inflict a very painful sting that can last up to 24 hours and appears to feel comparable to a gunshot wound (hence the name).
• Giant Amazonian ants from South America inflict a nasty sting that remains painful for 48 hours. Despite the name, these ant species also occur outside the Amazon, for example on the savannas of Argentina.
• The Bulldog ant from Australia is nicknamed 'the most dangerous ant species in the world' due to its potentially deadly sting. Approximately 3% of people appear to be allergic to their venom; for the remaining 97% of people, the pain of a sting is manageable. Some bulldog ants are called 'jack jumpers' by the locals because they jump when they are angry.
• The Fire ant ​from South America now also lives in the US, Australia, China, Taiwan, Spain, and Italy, and its spread continues steadily. The 'fire' in the name refers to the sensation after a sting, as if your skin is on fire. Just like with bulldog ants, an allergic reaction is quite common here as well, and can be life-threatening. After the first sting, your risk of an allergic reaction increases.
• Furthermore, there are the Army Ants, which hunt in large groups and can bite very aggressively when disturbed.