ALIEN LIFE CYCLE

STAGE ONE - THE ALIEN EGG

The Alien egg is the first and most important stage of the Xenomorph's development.

The egg is quite unique in its self, scientists believe that tendrils that run down its side take nutrients from the ground and nurture the egg until it opens. The egg contains a mixture of hormones and other nutrients for the young, but more importantly is contains a facehugger.

The egg itself feels the vibrations of things within striking distance and can sense heat.

So when it detects its prey within striking distance the egg automatically opens and the facehugger is then ready to pounce.

It is believed that the alien embryo alerts the adults by releasing pheromones if it is in trouble or dying. Sensing the alert, the aliens come in swarms to investigate the problem.

The eggs can stay viable for decades and even up to centuries after being laid.

The reason for this is that the eggs and there contents fall into a near death state so that the tendrils that provide the sustenance would slow down the nutrient taking process and only take small quantities which the egg could sustain itself on for decades or centuries before the ground runs out of nutrients around them.

When a potential host is near by it is believed that a form of communication goes on between the Facehuggers in all the eggs to co-ordinate an attack. The eggs then change from a dormant state of near death to being active.

The contents of the eggs can also be seen from the outside. This normally happens only when the egg has been dormant for a long time. As the egg becomes active, it becomes almost transparent to the naked eye.

Unfortunately most of this information is based of speculation and theories due to the difficulty people have of surviving to tell the story.

STAGE TWO - THE FACEHUGGER

The parasite or Facehugger as it is most commonly called is the second stage of a Xenomorph's development.

The Facehugger grows and matures within the egg until a host is nearby. As mentioned above the Facehuggers communicate with each other through pheromones to co-ordinate a strategic attack plan.

If the attack plan fails and it does not get the host like planned, it has very powerful legs that it uses to run around and chase its host. The facehugger has surprising agility for a parasite and it will not stop until it either impregnates somebody or is killed trying.

If the host gets away it will lie in wait of another or stealthily stalk others nearby.

Once the egg opens the facehugger has a tendency to jump at its potential prey from within side the egg, in means to surprise it and catch it with no difficulties. The prey is so overwhelmed by what has happened, it has little or no time to react and is quickly subdued by the parasite.

It has been recorded from the colony on the planet LV-426, that if the adult already makes the prey immobile. The facehugger waits until the host is awake or conscious before giving off a hormone that commands the egg to open. Since the prey is not going anywhere the facehugger does not jump on to its prey, but it slowly crawls out of the egg and towards its prey, delicately as if not to damage the host.

Once the parasite has subdued the host by releasing a chemical to disable it. The parasite then immediately sticks a tube down the host's throat and into its gullet. The tube is believed to give the host oxygen to keep it alive and at the same time, the embryo is released in to the host's chest. Once the embryo is planted successfully and it is coping on its own the facehugger falls off the hosts face and dies, the facehugger usually only travels five feet from the prey and dies within 15 minutes of falling off.

EMBRYO

For a parasite, the Facehugger is quite incredibly intelligent.

STAGE THREE - THE 'CHESTBURSTER' ALIEN

The baby alien or 'Chestburster' as it is called quite rightly, is the beginning of an adult.

As soon as the host is impregnated the Chestburster starts to develop and due to the incredible growth rate of the Xenomorphs the Chestburster is ready to be born after a few hours of its transfer from the facehugger to the host.

The embryo is implanted in the chest cavity behind the sternum, we assume this is for the protection of the embryo from harsh blows to the host from the outside world. Unfortunately this position of where the Chestburster has been planted results in an excruciating death for the host because the Chestburster has to repeatedly punch the sternum until it has broken free.

From the time the Facehugger falls off, the host has from 2 to 4 hours before the Chestburster kills the it and is born. A Queen embryo would take a much longer time to be born due to its more complex anatomy it would take approximately 8-14 hours before she is born.

Once the Chestburster is born it takes from 3-5 hours till it reaches full adult size.

The Chestburster has small front limbs that are presumably useless and a very snake like body, it uses it tail to push itself along the ground until its limbs have grown properly.

The DNA of the alien and its host sometimes mix giving the alien some of the instinct his host had. This can happen in such ways of development.

The Chestbursters only way of removal once implanted is to be surgically removed and then it should be destroyed, the only other way of getting it out of the hosts body is to let it hatch!

The Chestburster leaves scents in the host's body that adult Xenomorph's can scent and therefore no harm comes to the host by the aliens until the Chestburster kills it by being born.

STAGE FOUR - ADULT/WARRIOR XENOMORPH

This stage of the Xenomorphs development is for some the final stage and the most hostile by far. The Xenomorphs have no eyes or ears, nor do they need any, inside that massive elongated cranium is, of course, the Xenomorphs brain. The Xenomorph is in no way shape or form dumb. It can strategically think and ambush its prey the same way it did aboard the 'Auriga' to Ripley and the Betty crew. They chased them underwater and there only way up to get air was sealed off with a hard substance that once broken through alerted the eggs surrounding the opening and all of the Facehuggers launched themselves at the unsuspecting people. Not only can they think and plan but also they sense heat, vibrations, sound and danger.

The most interesting feature of the Xenomorph would have to be the second mouth it possesses. Its secondary mouth is approximately 12 inches long. It uses its second mouth to attack rather than for defence. It launches its secondary mouth at its prey disabling or killing it, mostly killing it. It has been shown from a surveillance camera that 'Carter J. Burke' was shown the secondary mouth right before he was killed. This also proves that the Xenomorph uses it secondary mouth as a warning of "You're about to die!"

It has been reported that the Xenomorph can also use its mouth as a limb. It was recorded onboard the Auriga that when a crewmember was in the aliens cell investigating their escape. When an alien used his secondary mouth to press the red button that releases liquid Nitrogen in the cell to kill the crewmember. The button was normally used as a discipline for the aliens.

The Xenomorphs tail is in length about as tall as the alien. The tail is extremely powerful. The tail helps the Xenomorph to balance as well as it defends and attacks. It uses its tail to hang from the ceiling securely while it attacks or stalks its prey. It can also use it to spring and leap from different awkward positions in order to surprise prey. In defence, it whips its tail around itself giving itself a kind of protective shield against whatever might being irritating or even attacking it.

The Xenomorph can detect anything not moving as well as it can things that are moving. If it can't sense you moving it can sense your presence, the vibrations you body gives off in uncontrollable shivers, respiratory vibrations and senses the heat of your body. There is no escape from the Xenomorphs senses.

STAGE FIVE - THE QUEEN

The Queen Xenomorph is approximately 4 and a half metres tall. Its head looks much different in appearance to that of a warrior, but it really isn't. The Queen has a crown that she rests her head on in dormancy, but when active the head is lifted from the crown, but the crown is always there giving the appearance of a much different head. Still the head is much bigger and looks a little different from the warrior's heads.

The Queen has a secondary mouth that looks exactly the same as the adults, except that it is much bigger and it is approximately 36 inches long.

Once birthed as a Chestburster it takes the Queen 4-6 hours to be physically mature.

The Queen does not need to mate it is born pregnant. From the time she is born it takes her 4-5 days to secrete resin to hold itself up suspended in mid-air and to start laying eggs.

The Queen alien also creates other Queens of its kind after its hive is sufficient enough to sustain the Queen she starts laying eggs that contain Queen embryos to start another hive.

Once the over hanging resin is complete and she starts laying eggs she becomes immobile, she does not need to move because her drones will do anything that she wants.

The Queen is the fifth and final stage of a normal Xenomorph.

STAGE SIX - THE NEWBORN

The Newborn is not a proper Xenomorph it is more of a genetic deformity than a true Xenomorph.

The Newborn is a mixture of Xenomorph DNA and Human DNA the Newborn has characteristics of both species but its appearance suggests that there is more alien DNA than human DNA.

One of the most surprising features of the Newborn is that it has eyes. We are not sure what it can see. Since there is no pupil and no iris. We think however, that it can see differences in light.

The Newborn was born through the chest cavity of the Queen, after its birth it killed the Queen by ripping half her head off. The cause for this is not known and there is only speculation.

Not a lot is known about the Newborn since it is the only one of its kind and the cloned Ripley killed it.