Leiningen Versus the Ants

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 not about to give up years of hard work and planning to "an act of God", as he believes in the superiority of the human brain and has already made preparations.

He reaches the dam controls and floods the plantation; this means the destruction of his year's crop, but it will save his men, preserve the contents of his granaries and destroy the menace of the ants.

Despite suffering horrible injuries, including ant bites to the inside of his nose and directly below his eyes, Leiningen continues running, reaches the concrete ditch with the blazing petrol and survives.

The original short story was published in the lifestyle periodical Die Neue Linie in 1937 as "Leiningens Kampf mit den Ameisen".

After the Second World War, Stephenson expanded the story into a larger novel which was published under different titles including Auf Leben und Tod, Sendboten der Hölle, and Marabunta.

[4] It was adapted in 1954 by Ranald MacDougall and Ben Maddow into the film The Naked Jungle, starring Charlton Heston as Leiningen and Eleanor Parker as his mail order bride Joanna, and featuring William Conrad as the commissioner.

[citation needed] In November 2018, the short story was adapted for BBC Radio 4's 15 Minute Drama series with Timothy Watson playing the title character.