Reasons why Xenomorphs ARE intelligent creatures

[dachande89]

No, it went back up on it's own  Those lifts default to the dock 7 landing platform..

Well she at least under stood "go into metal box, and you go up after woman and child" Thats at least at the basic intelligence of a chimp.

[Alien³]

No, it went back up on it's own  Those lifts default to the dock 7 landing platform..

He's right, but the queen still knew that if she got in the lift it would take her to Ripley and Newt.

[SM]

Well she at least under stood "go into metal box, and you go up after woman and child" Thats at least at the basic intelligence of a chimp.

And miles away from getting in, deciphering the control panel, and then choosing the correct floor.

[TheMonolith]

"They cut the power."
"What do you mean THEY cut the power? How could they cut the power man? They're animals!"

All the evidence I need.

[SM]

That could've been an accident.

A really, really convenient accident that they just cut the power to that particular block of the colony - but an accident nonetheless. 

[mjacobson]

Yeh, but I think that would normally come under 'Hive'.
Still, I do follow what you mean, perhaps the Aliens may also react differently when the queen is birthed from a different organism as the warriors? Like in AVPR. What do you think?
We know from Alien3 that if you incubate an alien inside you, warriors won't kill you. I used to think it was only because it was a queen, but the Queen in AVP killed the Predator carrying the queen embryo anyway.

She may have done so for one of three reasons:

1. Its a rival queen.
2. She was birthed from a 'human', so the gestating embryo in the 'Predator' conflicted her genetic code and purity of the hive.
3. She was just very angry at being caged for so long and killed the Predator in the heat of battle.

I would go for number 2. Still, to the lowly warriors it may just be a case of a Queen is a Queen and they don't reject the hybrid, but may behave differently, more like bodyguards than usual, as the implant method could be done by the Queen Predalien whilst mobile.
Thoughts dachande89?

You forgot #4 and maybe the most obvious answer: Self-preservation. The Queen was being attacked by the Predator, and she didn't feel like being killed.

[Private Hudson]

Or perhaps thier was no point in keeping the Embryo in Scar alive due to the fact the have was already set up and the queen was already at the top.

[SM]

The hive was vapourised by this point.

Either way, the embryo survived so it's kind of a non-issue.

[Deadmeat]

Or let's pick the final answer: It made no sense.

[Maxyboy]

it seems there are three positions on xenomorph intelligence

1) aliens are mindless killing machines

2) aliens have the intelligence of "smart" (non-human) animals like dolphins, chimps, raptors (you get the idea)

3) they have at least human-level intelligence

- Looking at the films, I see very little evidence, if any, for position 3).
- In Alien it seems the alien would fall into 2), although it's kinda hard to tell whether it was showing intelligence or simply a strong instinct for survival <--- EDIT
- Some people think Aliens falls more into 2), others think Aliens falls more into 1). My preferred viewing of Aliens is that it's more in line with 2).
- I haven't watched Alien 3 in a while because I'm in agreement with the critics who panned it, but the alien in that film didn't strike me as particularly smart ... it had a strong instinct for survival but that was about it. Maybe you guys are more sure about what category Alien 3 belongs to.
- The aliens in Alien Resurrection reminded me of the raptors from the Jurassic Park movies ... it was mentioned that the queen had an IQ of 150 (no idea how they measured that but OK ...), but the drones appeared to be no smarter than the most intelligent (non-human) animals

Probably 2, I dont think Aliens have deep, deep thought on par with humans.