Special Sub-Topic: From the Egg to the Queen, Part 2 Click Here To Play: From the Egg to the Queen, Part 2

What causes the egg to open?

External movement outside of the egg. When there is movement near the egg, a sensory device detects the movement and the egg opens up at the top. Inside is the facehugger, and it shoots out rapidly toward the source of movement. Aliens have even cocooned hosts and placed eggs in front of them, so that when they regained consciousness, this whole process started.

Generally, it takes a chestburster at least several days to grow into its full adult Alien size.

f. It usually only takes a chestburster a few hours to grow to its adult size. In "Alien" and "Alien 3", the Aliens that were born grew very quickly.

Can Aliens swim?

y. In "Alien Resurrection", the Aliens apparently had no difficulty swimming through the flooded chamber after Ripley and her pals. In fact, they swam through the water very well. It seems the only thing they can't do is sprout wings and fly.

What earth animal do the facehuggers resemble the most?

Spider. Like spiders, facehuggers have eight very long "legs" which they use to wrap around the head of the host. Their movement is also very similar to the way spiders and other arachnids move. The main differences are that facehuggers have a different sort of skin than spiders and that they have tails. Facehuggers are also much more deadly than most spiders!

When the eggs in the hive are protected, such as those in "Alien", how long can they last?

Centuries. In "Alien", the eggs were protected by a blue gas that hovered above the eggs and voiced a signal when it was tampered with. These eggs had obviously been there for a very long time, and were the same ones that were discovered by the colonists in "Aliens".

What external characteristic do the adult Aliens typically exhibit?

They salivate profusely. Aliens salivate profusely, or, to put it indelicately, they slobber all over the place! This has been shown time and time again in every single "Alien" movie; you could say it's their trademark. Sometimes the drool is really goopy and slimy, and other times it runs like water. Either way, it's pretty disgusting!

In appearance, the Queen is a bit different from the other Alien drones. Which is NOT true about how she looks different?

She has fewer limbs (arms and legs). The Queen does look different from the other Aliens; however, she has multiple limbs, not fewer. She stands much taller and has a longer scorpion-like tail. Her head is much larger and is shaped to look more like a crown, which is fitting.

Can an Alien "inherit" certain attributes from its host?

y. Sometimes Aliens obtain features from their host, including how the Alien moves or thinks. Throughout the "Alien" movies, most of the hosts were human, but in "Alien 3", the host for the main Alien was a dog. This Alien therefore moved and acted similar to a dog as compared to other Aliens.

What is the one action that the queen will undertake in the most dire of circumstances?

Separate herself from the egg sac. The Queen's egg sac is very large and is part of her abdomen. Since laying eggs is probably the Queen's most important function, it would have to be a desperate thing for her to separate from the egg sac as it can't be reattached. In "Aliens", the Queen did this as Ripley destroyed the hive and fired grenades into the egg sac.

Alien and human DNA have been combined to create an entirely new Alien species.

t. Ripley's human DNA was combined with the Queen's Alien DNA in "Alien Resurrection". This action resulted in a new Alien being which was shaped like an Alien but had human skin, eyes, teeth, and tongue. It was also more deadly than its predecessors as it killed the queen singlehandedly. I hope you enjoyed these quizzes and that you learned something more about these fearsome creatures!