The Largest And Most Prosperous Spider Colonies Perish More Quickly Than Smaller Colonies You would think that for any type of colony oriented species of animal bigger colonies with more members would certainly be more likely to survive than smaller colonies with far fewer members. After all, more colony members mean more opportunities to locate and share sources of sustenance with the rest of the colony. However, recent studies have clearly demonstrated that the opposite is the case as smaller spider colonies are much more likely to survive