What do xenomorphs eat?

tgbyhn

In all of the films, I can't ever recall a xenomorph consuming anything.

Yet, they can seemingly grow 200+ pounds in weight over the course of a few hours. It always boggled me in the back of my mind where they got the energy to grow, and so much of it, and how they grew so fast.

A human would need to eat 530 pounds of 75/25 ground beef to get the requisite number of calories to put on 200 pounds.

ramp_closing

Soylent green.

More seriously, I tell myself that the flukes on their backs are gas exchangers and that, like plants, they're mostly bound up atmosphere and water.

homer1962

Maybe a genetically engineered bio-weapon dosent need to eat.

kjohnson26

The xenomorph was raiding food storage units in the Alien novelization.

ramp_closing

homer1962 said:
Maybe a genetically engineered bio-weapon dosent need to eat.

It's a possibility. They seem to seek out warmth (for instance settling in the heart of the atmosphere processor). Perhaps they're a sort of organic stirling engine, pulling the energy for growth directly from temperature differentials.

NickIsSmart

Ash mentioned in Alien, "Oh, well, yes, it's adapted remarkably well to our environment, considering its nutritional requirements."

Kanesson

He was talking about the facehugger so we must assume the Embryo/Alien has a similiar metabolic process...also Ash mentions that it has " a funny habit of shedding its cells and replacing them with polarized Silicone" which goes a long way into explaining its translucent nature.

NickIsSmart

Was he? Are you sure? Parker had already said, "It's like a man, it's big!", followed by Ash staring creepily and muttering to himself, "Kane's son." Then, he says the bit about "nutritional requirements." I think he was talking about the man-sized alien, or at the very least the snake-shaped creature that popped out of Kane's chest.

drxs0

At the risk of coming off blase' about this. My take on what do they eat? Anything they want! :D

homer1962

One question I had about Aliens is the victims of the chestbursters, all still strung up aren't touched. Dosent seem like xenos like human flesh if they eat. Still think, they don't eat. They are a bio-machine,

NickIsSmart

If they eat, what do they poop? And where does all that slime come from?

drxs0

homer1962 said:
One question I had about Aliens is the victims of the chestbursters, all still strung up aren't touched. Dosent seem like xenos like human flesh if they eat. Still think, they don't eat. They are a bio-machine,

Perhaps the flesh became part of their lair. Absorbed into it so to speak.

Sticky_Fingaz

Your childhood innocence :P

The only film we see a xeno eat is AVP:R but that holds about as much weight as a dwarf on a hunger strike.

I like the idea of them absorbing their requirements from their environment. We basically eat to receive energy (and some nutrients), perhaps the xeno can absorb natural energy from their surrounding. Like their snorkels are solar collectors or something. They'd likely have a good carbon rating too :D

MartinRoby

They grow way to fast to be "normal eaters", so they must have a different source of energy and chemicals. So I'm with Sticky_Fingaz on this one. Problem is that energy in the environment is mostly low-entropy energy, heat etc., which is simply not usable to build/sustain an organism. So the xenomorphs would probably hang around the reactors not because it's warmer, but because they can somehow tap into the high-entropy energy available there.

Kanesson

NickIsSmart said:
Was he? Are you sure? Parker had already said, "It's like a man, it's big!", followed by Ash staring creepily and muttering to himself, "Kane's son." Then, he says the bit about "nutritional requirements." I think he was talking about the man-sized alien, or at the very least the snake-shaped creature that popped out of Kane's chest.

Been a while, not sure could be either, just thought I'd throw some related info in there.

Terraformer

in alien 3 it was munching at the prisoners. but i dont think they eat. in alien although everyone including me has decided it's turning brett and parker into eggs. But maybe it was turning them into some kind of organic soup for it to eat

Kanesson

NickIsSmart said:
Was he? Are you sure? Parker had already said, "It's like a man, it's big!", followed by Ash staring creepily and muttering to himself, "Kane's son." Then, he says the bit about "nutritional requirements." I think he was talking about the man-sized alien, or at the very least the snake-shaped creature that popped out of Kane's chest.

Just watched that scene again and it was the facehugger, chestburster hadn't been born yet.

NickIsSmart

We're talking about the same scene, right? I'm talking about the one after Brett dies in the room of chains, where they're talking about how to drive the alien and Ash suggests, "Most animals retreat from fire, yes?" That's where he also mentions nutritional requirements. At this point, the creature had already been born and turned into a giant man-sized thing.

Kanesson

I don't think so, the scene I'm speaking of is when Ripley walks in on Ash studying the facehuggers biology through the Microscope...at this point, Kane has yet to awaken from his Coma. The "Nutrional Requirements" dialogue was not spoken at this point, so we're on different points of reference here, I assumed that dialogue was in the scene I was talking about mistakenly.

NickIsSmart

Oh, yeah. I know the scene you're talking about, where she startles Ash, who's looking through the microscope at... something.

Kanesson

Funny thing happened, as I was looking for confirmation of the dialogue watching that scene, I noticed that the black anomaly to the upper left of the monitor appeared as a curled up chestburster...If you get the chance, watch the scene and look for that...possible/possibly a chestburster?

NickIsSmart

Yeah. I always thought it was a sheep eyeball, or something. Of course it's the eight passenger.

Kanesson

I never paid that much attention to the screen 'til today, gimme some slack...

prometheus_down

I always thought these two images looked ominous.

This certainly has an alienesque appearance, plus there is definite movement (heartbeat perhaps) visible as the camera pans across.

Also, this could just be an oxygen bubble... Or is it?

ummester

Would acid blood require nutrition, or would it be more like lubricant in a machine?

I like not knowing what or if they eat as we understand it - makes them more creepy.

I don't like how the little chestbuster gets big so qucikly, without any kind of explanation though. It would be nice if there were some lectronics, metal and organic matter missing before they see the full sized one, without explanation, so we don't know if it ate or assembled itself larger.

Terraformer

ummester said:
Would acid blood require nutrition, or would it be more like lubricant in a machine?
I like not knowing what or if they eat as we understand it - makes them more creepy.
I don't like how the little chestbuster gets big so qucikly, without any kind of explanation though. It would be nice if there were some lectronics, metal and organic matter missing before they see the full sized one, without explanation, so we don't know if it ate or assembled itself larger.

i was always under the impression the blood in the alien's body was not exactly acid and only turned acid once it escaped it's alien body = something like it's dead blood cells turn to acid

Welcome!

Categories

Forum Tips