# Do ant swarms kill people in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134 "2011-08-09T22:30:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/1 "2011-08-09T22:30:03Z")
I remember in 4th grade reading about army ants swarming through the jungle killing everything in their way. I think I also remember and old MacGyver episode that involved ant swarms killing people. A quick Google shows elderly people dying from fire ant bites in Florida nursing homes but do ant swarms ever kill grown otherwise healthy humans? Is this really a danger to worry about while hiking through the jungle? If I’m in the jungle, and I’m in the oncoming path of a swarm(division?) of army ants, what do I do? ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/2 "2011-08-09T22:53:50Z")
That great font of wisdom, “Wiki,” says this about the species Dorylus; Seasonally, when food supplies become short, they leave the hill and form marching columns of up to 50,000,000 ants which are considered a menace to people, though they can be easily avoided; a column can only travel about 20 metres in an hour. It is for those unable to move, or when the columns pass through homes, that there is the greatest risk. There have been reported cases of people—usually the young, infirm, or otherwise debilitated who could not escape—being killed and eventually consumed by them, often dying of asphyxiation. See the whole article here, [Dorylus - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorylus) ---
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/3 "2011-08-09T22:56:58Z")
I beleive there have been documented killings, but only when the victim couldn’t get out of the way for some reason. The most recent report I can find is from [2009](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32037659/ns/world_news-americas/t/bolivian-farmworker-killed-ants/), saying a drunken bolivian went to sleep under an ant infested tree. I don’t know if an autopsy was performed, I wouldn’t necessarily trust the report. You don’t need to worry about army ants, you can easily step out of their way. IIRC, the most common species don’t have eyes, I’m not sure if that is true of all 200 odd species. Some insects defend against them by simply standing still, preventing the ants from detecting them. Farmers love them, as they kill pests. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/4 "2011-08-09T23:13:20Z")
Fire ant bites aren’t really much of a problem. It’s their sting that causes the nasty, itchy pustules. For clarification, stings come from the tail end, as with bees, wasps, and scorpions. Bites come from the head end, as with horseflies, spiders, fleas, and mosquitoes. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2011, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/5 "2011-08-09T23:25:19Z")
I Don’t think **The Naked Jungle** is a reliable source for entomological information Neither is the fourth Indiana Jones film > **[The Naked Jungle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Jungle)** > > The Naked Jungle is a 1954 American adventure film directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Charlton Heston and Eleanor Parker. Telling the story of an attack of army ants on a Brazilian cocoa plantation, it was based on the 1937 short story "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson. > In 1901, Joanna arrives from New Orleans at a South American cocoa plantation to meet her new husband (whom she married by proxy), plantation owner Christopher Leiningen. This has been arranged by his brother in ... > **[Leiningen Versus the Ants](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiningen_Versus_the_Ants)** > > "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by Carl Stephenson is a classic short story published in the December 1938 edition of Esquire. It is a translation, probably by Stephenson himself, of "Leiningens Kampf mit den Ameisen" which was originally published in German in 1938. > Leiningen, the owner of a plantation in the Brazilian rainforest, is warned by the district commissioner that a swarm of ferocious and organised soldier ants is approaching and that he must flee. Unlike his neighbours, Leiningen is ... ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/6 "2011-08-10T03:34:01Z")
A [whole list of movies about this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_eco-horror_films#Ants) is available on Wikipedia. ---
**Author:** ![Nawth\_Chucka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@Nawth\_Chucka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nawth_Chucka)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/7 "2011-08-10T03:42:59Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Fire ant bites aren’t really much of a problem. It’s their sting that causes the nasty, itchy pustules. For clarification, stings come from the tail end, as with bees, wasps, and scorpions. Bites come from the head end, as with horseflies, spiders, fleas, and mosquitoes. True, but the bite is to hold on while the filthy little bastards sting you w/ their butt ends, along w/ a few dozen of their angry kin. I got stung in May and still have the scars bright as day on my ankle. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/8 "2011-08-10T04:42:49Z")
> [@Alka\_Seltzer](#): > > I beleive there have been documented killings, but only when the victim couldn’t get out of the way for some reason. The most recent report I can find is from [2009](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32037659/ns/world_news-americas/t/bolivian-farmworker-killed-ants/), saying a drunken bolivian went to sleep under an ant infested tree. I don’t know if an autopsy was performed, I wouldn’t necessarily trust the report. The [Palo Santo tree (_Triplaris_ sp.)](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20209363)has a symbiotic relationship with the _Pseudomyrmex_ ants that live inside it and defend it against enemies. The ants sting viciously, and enough of them could probably cause death. > [@](#): > > You don’t need to worry about army ants, you can easily step out of their way. IIRC, the most common species don’t have eyes, I’m not sure if that is true of all 200 odd species. Some insects defend against them by simply standing still, preventing the ants from detecting them. Farmers love them, as they kill pests. True. New World army ants (_Eciton_ and others) are no real hazard to anything that can move faster than a small lizard. They both sting and bite, however, and the swarms are numerous enough that they could probably kill someone who was incapacitated. I’ve never actually heard of a case, though. ---
**Author:** ![wei\_ji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wei\_ji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wei_ji)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/9 "2011-08-11T20:23:40Z")
I can’t remember the source, but I’ve read somewhere (with a “probably reliable” memory tag on it) that in Africa there is an ant swarm that can be dangerous if you CAN’T get out of it’s way, and that, very rarely, people are seriously injured or even killed. The example given, by a Westerner living in Africa, was that her baby was in a tent one night and suddenly started screaming. Those sitting around the fire nearby rushed to the tent and found the baby covered with “swarming” ants that had just arrived. They rescued the baby and took measures to avoid the ants. Apparently the infirm, babies, and young children MIGHT be in some danger in such circumstances. I seem to recall some bad result to a passed-out local drunk associated with this assessment of ant swarm dangers. The author said locals regarded ant “swarms” as a minor irritant (given other things to worry about–someone should start a thread about the Black Mamba). Of course, fiction provides some wonderfully horrendous stories. I recall something about a stubborn planter in South America running through a mile or two of ants to get to an irrigation gate wheel to flush out his land, with non-fatal but appalling fictional results. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2011, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/10 "2011-08-11T21:14:54Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Fire ant bites aren’t really much of a problem. It’s their sting that causes the nasty, itchy pustules. For clarification, stings come from the tail end, as with bees, wasps, and scorpions. As an aside, I was watching one of those David Attenborough nature documentaries once where he said that ants are thought to have descended from their communal flying cousins, bees & wasps. Which isn’t the direction I’d have guessed (kind of like cetacean ancestors once being landbound) but it would explain the stingers. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/11 "2011-08-12T05:10:29Z")
> [@wei\_ji](#): > > I can’t remember the source, but I’ve read somewhere (with a “probably reliable” memory tag on it) that in Africa there is an ant swarm that can be dangerous if you CAN’T get out of it’s way, and that, very rarely, people are seriously injured or even killed. Those are “driver ants” (_Dorylus_) mentioned in the second post. > [@](#): > > Of course, fiction provides some wonderfully horrendous stories. I recall something about a stubborn planter in South America running through a mile or two of ants to get to an irrigation gate wheel to flush out his land, with non-fatal but appalling fictional results. That’s “The Naked Jungle,” linked to by **CalMeacham.** [QUOTE=Jophiel] As an aside, I was watching one of those David Attenborough nature documentaries once where he said that ants are thought to have descended from their communal flying cousins, bees & wasps. [/QUOTE] Ants are just one family (Formicidae) among the Order Hymenoptera, which includes bees, wasps, hornets, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/12 "2011-08-12T05:36:24Z")
> [@SandyHook](#): > > There have been reported cases of people—usually the young, infirm, or otherwise debilitated who could not escape—being killed and eventually consumed by them, **often dying of asphyxiation.** That’s a fucking horrifying way to go. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/13 "2011-08-12T07:24:51Z")
Best movie depicting an hostile ant colony is [Phase IV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV). A small gem (though not in the Legionnary Ant mode that the OP seems to be about). ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/14 "2011-08-12T13:13:22Z")
> [@wei\_ji](#): > > Of course, fiction provides some wonderfully horrendous stories. I recall something about a stubborn planter in South America running through a mile or two of ants to get to an irrigation gate wheel to flush out his land, with non-fatal but appalling fictional results. Sounds like [Leiningen Versus the Ants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiningen_Versus_the_Ants). A great story. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Know\_Nothing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f04885/32.png) [@I\_Know\_Nothing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Know_Nothing)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/15 "2011-08-12T13:22:17Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > Best movie depicting an hostile ant colony is [Phase IV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV). A small gem (though not in the Legionnary Ant mode that the OP seems to be about). OMG the cover art alone makes me want to check it out. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/16 "2011-08-12T14:01:37Z")
Walk for your lives, walk! ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/17 "2011-08-12T16:57:46Z")
Quirks and Quarks, the Canadian podcast, had a piece on ants a few weeks ago and the expert mentioned that occassionally livestock that has been tied up will be killed by ant swarms. Again, these are animals that can’t easily escape the ants (i.e. walk away). ---
**Author:** ![wei\_ji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wei\_ji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wei_ji)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/18 "2011-08-12T20:31:39Z")
Poor Yoric: Yes, “Leningen vs. the Ants” is exactly right. One of those great old early 20th Century stories that makes a lifelong impression when read in grade school; see also Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” (1908). I’m doing well enough on memory today to risk it again. Here is another nonfictional “ant swarm” story that someone might recognize. This one comes from a woman writing a memoir of what I remember as a South American army ant swarm. It it, she gives an account of her family (North American or European, mother and father, young brother, and a modest serving staff) preparing for a “moving carpet” onslaught through the family’s rural compound. She begins by telling the etymological facts of such a swarm, and then the story of her youthful experience (@ age 12, I’d guess). Her parents and a few staff stayed on as the ants advanced, for reasons I can’t recall. They put the legs of a large table into cans half-filled with kerosine in a large room, climbed onto the table, and held several large umbrellas overhead to catch ants falling from the ceiling, shaking these off from time to time. They knew very clearly how long they would have to hold out, and overnight was the duration of the swarm taking over the house. The story teller watched as ants swarmed into the room and up the walls, methodically pursuing and trapping a large insect (perhaps a Scorpion) in a corner. She claims to have fallen asleep just as the final gotterdammerung battle got under way. In the morning, the last remnants of this creature were being carried in triumph (somewhat anthropomorphically) down a crack. Later in the day, the swarm had passed. If I remember this story accurately, and if it was nonfiction, clearly the danger from ant swarms is serious but not deadly: The parents elected to sit it out with their kids. Her final comment was that a temporary desert was left behind by the ants passing, and the kids had a grace period in which they no longer had to shake out their shoes in the morning to avoid Scorpion stings. (If Colibri is in Panama he might well be familiar with this practice). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/19 "2011-08-12T22:19:33Z")
> [@PoorYorick](#): > > Sounds like [Leiningen Versus the Ants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiningen_Versus_the_Ants). A great story. _Leiningen Versus the Ants_ is the story _The Naked Jungle_ was based on. The “marabunta” ants in _The Naked Jungle_ are entirely fictional. They apparently both eat flesh (like army ants) and strip vegetation (like leaf cutters). Their swarms are larger by orders of magnitude than those of any actual army ant. I thought one of the most hilarious scenes in the movie was where the swarm appears on a distant hillside, and immediately munches an entire tropical rainforest down to the ground. So they seem to be related to termites too, since they consume tree trunks. > [@wei\_ji](#): > > If I remember this story accurately, and if it was nonfiction, clearly the danger from ant swarms is serious but not deadly: The parents elected to sit it out with their kids. If it was intended as non-fiction, it would be vastly exaggerated. I think most people would vacate their house and go next door rather than try to stay. But as has been said, army ants are no real menace to anyone who is mobile. And ants usually pass through a single area in a matter of hours. To the best of my knowledge, army ants also only swarm during the day; during the night they move their temporary “bivouac” containing the queen and larvae to the next location. > [@](#): > > Her final comment was that a temporary desert was left behind by the ants passing, and the kids had a grace period in which they no longer had to shake out their shoes in the morning to avoid Scorpion stings. (If Colibri is in Panama he might well be familiar with this practice). People who live in thatched huts are often glad to have a visitation by army ants to get rid of cockroaches, scorpions, and other vermin. (However, I’ve never actually found a scorpion in my shoe; I keep them inside the tent.) ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134/20 "2011-08-12T22:51:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > (However, I’ve never actually found a scorpion in my shoe; I keep them inside the tent.) I’m no expert, but wouldn’t it be better to keep the scorpions _outside_ the tent? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-ant-swarms-kill-people-in-real-life/592134.md?page=2)