Earth’? We asked a zoologist how the biology and the life cycle relates to real animals

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The Xenomorphen Are perhaps the greatest film samples of all time; A petrified bundle of invasive parasites, armed jaws and dangerously sour blood.

When director Ridley Scott collaborated with artist HR Giger for the original “alien”, bio -engineers their being for maximum terror and xenomorph xx121 (to give his official Weyland-Yutani designation) has since proven remarkably sustainable.

So, with this so-called “perfect organism” that is about to be released in a completely new habitat in a long-awaited TV program “Alien: earth“We have decided to get the lowdown on his terrifying biology. We called Zoologist Paolo viscardiKeeper or Natural History in the National Museum of Ireland, to find out if one of the infamous characteristics of the being can be plausible in real life – Magical “Prometheus” Black GooWhich has no logical sense at all.

Parasite

They can be apex predators who are able to survive in the most hostile environments, but xenomorphs still have to take advantage of ignorant hosts – human or otherwise – to promote the family line.

Paolo Viscardi says: “Parasites tend not to kill their host. They may be able to make them sick, but in general their function is to work with the host so that they can get what they need, without causing a host so much stress. [and some species of wasp] His parasitoids because they actually kill their host. [Synthetic Andy actually uses the term to describe the Facehuggers in “Alien: Romulus”.]

“The number of parasites there is, and to be honest, it is incredible things that do all kinds of strange things. One of my favorites is the tongue lice, which usually comes in through the gills of the guest fish (something like a red snapper), eats the tongue and then takes his place.

The circle of life

You know it ridiculously complicated Xenomorph Life Cycle Now… a queen lays the eggs, facehuggers breed and impregnate a host, chest burters come up (to kill the host in the process) and quickly grow into drones.

Paolo says: “There are life cycles much more complex than that! The Lancet Lever Fluke is a great example. When an ant gets infected with its larva stages, the Lancet liver fluke shifts something in the brain of the ant, so that, instead of going back to their nest, they go back to their normal ant, their normal ant by hand.

“The reason for this is that cows graze more often and at night, which means that they cannot see strange things on their food, and they eat the feeding meat. The cows then poop out cysts eaten by snails, and their faeces are eaten by ants.

Bigmouth strikes again

Because when you are hunting on space truckers, colonial marines, hardened criminals and even naive children, an extra set of jaws can be a very useful weapon.

Paolo says: “There are quite a few different types that use a jaw with multiple components that can continue. Alien!”

Crispy on the outside

Members of Xenomorph species XX121 are known for wearing their skeleton structures for the whole world.

Paolo says: “Exoskelettes are quite versatile, but one of the problems with them is that they cannot grow like an endoskelet. We grow by adding extra material to our internal skeletons, but it is much more difficult to grow an exoskeleton. In general, you have to grow it in one big go, your old shedding, your old leaves and the hardening and the hardened.

“But you are very, very vulnerable when you repel your exoskeleton. It also leaves you in a position where you no longer have structural support – the exoskelet is what that extra support offers – and that is one of the reasons why the size of organisms that have an exoskeleton, although an exoskelie is not.

They are growing up so quickly

Out of alien creatures bypass that difficult adolescent phase neatly by growing in a matter of growing from cat-sized chest to human-dwerfing drone.

Paolo says: “It would surprise you how fast something can grow if it falls its old exoskeleton, so this is not entirely unthinkable. The new exoskeleton will often be folded and crushed in the old to absorb a much smaller volume. Then when the old exoskeleton is shed, the new, the new one [the arthropod equivalent of blood] Or whatever. That process can happen fairly quickly.

“There can be a lot of empty space in the new exoskelet, and that is useful because it gives you more room to grow before you come to your next Rui phase. But the animal would also be quite weak at this stage – if this happened in a very short period, muscle growth would not be able to keep the expansion of the exoskeletry.”

“Romulus” also introduced a new stage in the development of Xenomorph, which showed that the growth spurt of the Chestburster-Drone takes place in a very icky cocoon.

Paolo says: “Cocoons are what you need for metamorphosis, which is almost complete liquidation of the entire body to grow a new form that can often be completely different from the old. Having a cocon phase is completely logical if you have an important change in morphology, but the process would take a while.”

Heat vision

The Xenomorph has always proved remarkably skilled in stalking its prey without visible eyes, and “Romulus” confirmed that Facehuggers hold on potential hosts through a powerful combination of sound and heating.

Paolo says: “There are many things that effectively use thermal imaging to find prey or find out where they are going. Mosquitoes can actually detect infrared effectively is still a form of seeing, but they use infrared so that they are able to detect warm-blooded things.”

Vacuum packed

The Xenomorph had already turned out to be robust enough to get out of the mediocrity of the ‘alien v predator’ films. Then “Romulus” proved that they can also survive for decades in the cold vacuum of space.

Paolo says: “There are certain tardigrades who have been included in the vacuum and have been in order. I would say the bigger you are, the harder it is, but it is not impossible – and if it can happen with one animal, it can probably happen with something else.

“I think this depends a bit on whether the xenomorphs are cold -blooded or warm -blooded. [This isn’t entirely clear from the movies, though in ‘Aliens’, they don’t appear to ‘show up on infrared at all’.] If you cool the area, a cold -blooded type will slow down and stop, but that does not mean that it will not start again once it is warmed up. In fact, this can be really useful, because it means that the metabolic processes work much slower and they go effectively in Stasis. Warm -blooded species must tend to maintain certain metabolic processes to survive, so in some respects it would be cold -blooded much more logical for the alien. “

Burned Baby Burn

Types of XX121 has a final pièce the resistance, an adjustment that is so ingenious that shooting with pulse rifles is often very bad for your health. Yes, the Xenomorph blood circulation is filled with a deadly, extremely melty cocktail of sulfur and hydrofluoric acid.

Paolo says: “It is logical that digestive juices from acid are compiled, that is fair enough, but I don’t think it would be particularly good in the transport of oxygen, and nutrients would simply be completely resolved. So the very sour blood of the alien is a bit strange, but there is there Are Examples of very strong acids, such as stomach acid, made in nature. “

Looking for perfection

Android “Brothers” Ash and Smoke share a disturbing admiration for the Xenomorph, which describes the creature as a “perfect organism”. Hyperbole?

Paolo says: “I would say that everything is a perfect organism, I think this is a better way to look at it. Everything has adapted to its environment and is the best it can be in survival in that environment at a certain time – otherwise it would not be here. It is a case of something that is perfect for a certain thing, and that is actually the whole point about evolution – everything is perfect.”

“Alien: Earth” is on Hulu and FX in the US from Tuesday 12 August and Disney+ in the UK from Wednesday 13 August. View our How to look at Alien: Earth Guide for more info.

View Alien: Earth op Hulu in the US. You can also view the rest of the alien (and predator) franchises, including the recently released hit Alien: Romulus.

You can find the available plans below:

Hulu (with advertisements): $ 9.99/month or $ 99.99/year
Hulu (no ads): $ 18.99/monthly view deal

If you live in the UK, or somewhere else outside the US, you do not have access to Hulu. Fortunately you will find Alien: Earth and the rest of the alien franchise on Disney+.

Prices vary per country, but you can find the British prices below for reference:

Standard (with advertisements): £ 4.99/month
Standard (no ads): £ 8.99/month or £ 89.90/year
Premium (4K): £ 12.99/month or £ 129.90/year deal