--- description: He said he got the idea from TV expert Bear Grylls title: Australian Man Who Survived by Eating Ants Says He's 'Lucky' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49fe3619ab76ca04/69886f4eab6d77d0796a6f69/gettyimages-53074531.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Australia](/tag/australia/) ## Australia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Australian Man Who Survived in the Desert by Eating Ants Says He's 'Lucky' by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2015 4:15 AM CUT  A file photo shows the sun shining on the outback landscape June 7, 2005 near Marree, Australia. A file photo shows the sun shining on the outback landscape June 7, 2005 near Marree, Australia.Ian Waldie—Getty Images by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 3, 2015 4:15 AM CUT A 62-year-old man who got stranded alone in the Australian desert for nearly a week and survived only by eating ants [said](https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29974480/antman-reg-foggerdy-tells-his-incredible-tale-of-survival/ "undefined") he was “lucky” to be alive. Reg Foggerdy, a grandfather from the city of Perth, spoke to Australian broadcaster 7 News about his ordeal while hunting a feral camel. “I’d given up,” Foggerdy said, adding that he still intends to go back and find his rifle. Stuck in the Outback without food or water, he said he got the idea to consume the insects from watching TV shows featuring survival expert Bear Grylls. \[[_7 News_](https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/29974480/antman-reg-foggerdy-tells-his-incredible-tale-of-survival/ "undefined")\] ### See 40 Stunning Images Captured Through A Microscope  Jumping spider eyes at 20x magnification. Noah Fram-Schwartz  A bed bug at 50x magnification. Stefano Barone  A mite in a forest at 10x magnification. José R. Almodóvar  Cultured embryonic chicken dorsal root ganglia neuron explant at 60x magnification. Dr. Michael John Bridge  A crawling bone cancer cell at 8000x magnification. Dr. Dylan T. Burnette  Active fluid flow around P. damicornis at 4x magnification Dr. Douglas Brumley  A Chrysochroa buqueti (jewel beetle) at 45x magnification. Charles Krebs  Focal conic-like domain with varying degrees of modulation and checkerboard patterns at 40x magnification. Dr. Rajdeep Deb  ALeptothorax acervorum (ant) carrying its larva at 5x magnification. Geir Drange  A sagittal brain slice showing cell nuclei at 40x magnification. Dr. Marco Dal Maschio  A mouse brain vasculature at 2x magnification. Dr. Ali Erturk  A Tradescantia zebrina (wandering jew) leaf stomata at 40x magnification. Dr. Jerzy Gubernator  A Tigriopus californicus (copepod) at 10x magnification. Dr. Terue Kihara  A Chrysochroa buqueti (jewel beetle) carapace, near eye at 450x magnification. Charles Krebs  Live zebrafish embryo at 22 hours post-fertilization. Dr. Philipp Keller  A Casuarina equisetifolia (beach oak) twigs at 125x magnification. Anatoly Mikhaltsov  Bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells. Dr. Muthugapatti K. Kandasamy  A Vespula vulgaris (common wasp) stinger at 5x magnification. Geir Drange  An ant eye at 20x magnification. Noah Fram-Schwartz  Conichalcite pseudomorph after azurite at 6x magnification. Honorio Cócera-La Parra  Pleurosigma angulatum (diatoms) at 100x magnification. Christian Gautier  Lilium anther, second division tetrads at 500x magnification. Raymond Sloss  Montana Dryhead agate at 50x magnification. Douglas L. Moore  Tripolycyanamide crystal at 100x magnification. Yanping Wang  A young starfish at 5x magnification. Steven Wilbert  A Solea sp. (fish) at 25x magnification. David Linstead  Pleurotaenium ovatum (micro algae) at 40x magnification. Rogelio Moreno Gill  A Magnesium chloride and potassium alum mixture at 25x magnification. Chao Zhang  A rhombohedral cleavage in calcite crystal at 10x magnification. Alessandro Da Mommio  Marine algae at 40x magnification. Waldo Nell  A Ceriodaphnia sp. (water flea) at 20x magnification. Rogelio Moreno Gill  A snowflake at 8x magnification. Michael Peres  A Shipworm Lyrodus pedicellatus and a wood-boring mussel at 20x magnification. Andrea Wurzinger-Mayer  Anagallis arvensis (scarlet pimpernel) at 80x magnification. Jens H. Petersen  A flower embryo at 40x magnification. Samuel Silberman  The underside of a Brown dog tick and Lonestar tick at 100x magnification. Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz  Living Micrasterias in contrast Interphako at 100 magnification. Frank Fox  Recrystallized bismuth iodide at 100x magnification. Sebastian Blaise Sparenga  A Hydra and Volvox at 10x magnification. Steven Wilbert  Appendages of a common brine shrimp at 100x magnification. Dr. Igor Robert Siwanowicz ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4097782/australia-ant-eating-reg-foggerdy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4097782/australia-ant-eating-reg-foggerdy/"},"headline":"Australian Man Who Survived in the Desert by Eating Ants Says He's 'Lucky'","datePublished":"2015-11-03T04:15:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:01:04.046Z","description":"He said he got the idea from TV expert Bear Grylls","url":"https://time.com/4097782/australia-ant-eating-reg-foggerdy/","keywords":["Australia","Food","Water","Desert","ant-man"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49fe3619ab76ca04/69886f4eab6d77d0796a6f69/gettyimages-53074531.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt49fe3619ab76ca04/69886f4eab6d77d0796a6f69/gettyimages-53074531.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Australia Threatened by Climate Change Outlook","caption":"Australia Threatened by Climate Change Outlook","creditText":"Ian Waldie—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/australia/","name":"Australia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4097782/australia-ant-eating-reg-foggerdy/","name":"Australian Man Who Survived in the Desert by Eating Ants Says He's 'Lucky'"}}]}] ```