 Since numerous insects and other small prey can escape the swarm, the frequent raids of the ants do not desecrate an area's prey reserves.This chronic predation by the colonies will evolutionarily favor insects and other prey that possess adaptions to counteract the ants, such as chemical weaponry for defense or those that sexually mature at a smaller size.Since the larger "Eciton burchellii" ants require more prey for energy than other smaller ant colonies, only high biomass patches of prey will provide them with enough food.