Facehugger: How did it know to go for Kane's face?

[motherfather]

I've been rewatching the first Alien movie (again) and started thinking about the egg/facehugger which Kane disturbed.

The facehugger needs an orifice of a host to be able to impregnate it. It doesn't have any way of "piercing" or burrowing its way into a host, other than via an orifice. So...

How did it instinctively know to leap towards Kane's face?

It could have been a lot more "trial and error" flailing around the general vicinity, hoping to find *any* orifice. But it didn't. It went straight for Kane's helmet/face.

(It should be noted that in our universe (and in the universe of Alien) there is no gusrantee that other life forms - if encountered - will have a mouth, lips, teeth, tongue, ears, or even a face. So the facehuggers are harming their own survival by limiting themselves to evolve with a proboscus which targets ONLY THOSE living hosts in the cosmos, that happen to have a face, mouth, esrs etc...)

[Nightmare Asylum]

[Local Trouble]

Just imagine if he'd tried sitting on it.

[SiL]

... because he stuck his face right over the egg? The thing would have to try to miss.

[motherfather]

Yes, but the facehugger didn't know (yet) if the object approaching the egg (Kane) had a face with an orifice (mouth) into which it could shove its proboscis.

The egg was triggered either by an interruption of the mist layer / or proximity + approach of a moving object (Kane).

Kane's space hemlet was obscured by frost/fog and even if the facehugger had eyes, it probably wouldn't - from that angle - be able to view and "aim" it's leap and proboscis insertion.

[SiL]

Yes, but the facehugger didn't know (yet) if the object approaching the egg (Kane) had a face with an orifice (mouth) into which it could shove its proboscis.

If you go frame by frame you'll see it just rams its tubes (there are three) right through the face plate. It then melts through said faceplate to get to the face.

Seems to me their solution to the issue of not finding a hole is to make one by force or by acid. It got lucky and just happened to land on his face.

[razeak]

https://i.redd.it/pvbb9nxkxwr51.jpg

bro.......this hurt lol

[The Cruentus]

Well like any parasite, it has the inbuilt instinct to go for a living organism. We don't know for sure how a facehugger navigates the world. If it is by sensing air such as carbon dioxide, it should not be able to "see" kane due to his suit.

From what we say, the suit didn't hide or mask Kane's status as a potential host. So whatever the facehugger uses to see, it is good enough to detect kane and go for his face. So it must be able to detect where to go on a living organism.

[solace97]

I guess if you follow alien covenant it's because David created it and knew it would be used on humans. He was waiting to use the face huggers he created in Alien C

[Wweyland]

Wild fan theory:
The Blue Mist scanned Kane and relayed the information to the egg/facehugger.

[Corporal Hicks]

This is where I do actually like the idea of the Aliens being a bioengineered weapon designed specifically to f**k up humanoids. Whether that be David as vengeance against humanity, or the Space Jockeys/something else against something else (the Engineers?). There's a logic to that I like.

But it's a parasite and like natural parasites, I'd imagine there's a level of evolved instinct to being able to propagate naturally.

[Slutty Badger]

I guess if you follow alien covenant it's because David created it and knew it would be used on humans. He was waiting to use the face huggers he created in Alien C

He didn't. He created his own version, the Praeto-Facehugger. It's bigger than the original facehugger but less mobile.

[SM]

Like the one in the film that was the same size as other huggers but way faster?

[The Cruentus]

Have to agree, while it has some differences, it was more or less the same size and it was very agile.

[BlueMarsalis79]

The Eggs and Facehuggers of David are just outright superior, in form and function.