| There are 4 stages of the Alien's lifecycle 1. The Egg The eggs are complex organisms in and of themselves. They are responsible for maintaining life support for the larva for an indefinite amount of time, and must recognize a potential host and distinguish it from valid members of the nest. The egg can survive for an undetermined length of time in many different environments. The egg is translucent , flammable, and unarmored. 2. Chestburster When the embryo has completed it's period of development inside of the host, it emerges into the next stage in it's life. The burster has built up enough strength in order to tear out of the chest cavity inside of the host. The host experiences a great deal of pain during this procedure, resulting in convulsions and loss of all rational thought. This process usually results in the death of the host. Once free of the host, the chestburster is independent to live on it's own. About two feet long from head to tail, it emerges can emerge at different stages of development depending on host conditions, environment, and strength. Unlike the burster seen in 'Alien', the one in 'Aliens' had arms, while the latter was merely a head and tail. Once again the chestburster seen in 'Alien3' was also different; it was more like an adult alien immediately after its birth. The burster is very unprotected and vulnerable at this point. From the experience of the colonial marines in 'Aliens', a chestburster can easily be toasted by fire from their flame-throwers. 3. Stage face hugger the facehugger awaits until the egg senses it is time to continue the life cycle. When a suitable host is brought near a closed egg either by curiosity, or being cocooned and held in place, it triggers the facehugger in the egg to come to awaken. The egg opens from the top to reveal the creature within it. At this point the cycle transfers from the egg to the next phase as the face-hugger awakens. After sensing the host, the face-hugger launches out at the organism and attaches itself by wrapping a long tail around the victim's neck and using its longs legs to firmly grip the organism's head. The legs become almost fused with the head of the host, making it almost impossible to remove. The face-hugger also limits the amount of oxygen its host receives and puts the victim in a comatose state while it reaches down the host's throat and lays an egg. The lungs on the side of the face-hugger pump the oxygen into the host, to keep the host alive. During this process the host is helpless and dependent upon the face-hugger. After the face-hugger plants the egg in the victim's body, the face-hugger leaves the host and dies. 4. Adult The final stage of alien life is the adult stage. In this stage the alien has a growth spert- it can reach from 3 to 4 feet all the way to 7 to 8 feet with in only a few hours. During this growth stage it sheds at least one layer of skin. In the usual case this increase in mass would take much longer. It would take a lot of energy to be half the size of a man. We can assume that is it sheds it's skin multiple times in its rapid growth period. The shedding of skin while increasing body mass might also result in secretion or loss of blood (acid). In this same scene, the alien doesn't appear to be fully mature, but definitely larger then the original burster-- proving that it doesn't instantaneously grow to full size. Whether the alien needs any food at all for growth is has not been fully determined. |