According to Daniel Janzen, livestock can apparently smell the pheromone and avoid these acacias day and night.Daniel Janzen, Costa Rican Natural History, 1983 Getting stung in the mouth and tongue is an effective deterrent to browsing on the tender foliage. In addition to protecting V. conigera from leaf-cutting ants and other unwanted herbivores, the ants also clear away invasive seedlings around the base of the tree that might overgrow it and block out vital sunlight.
