WHAT/HOW do they eat?

[FACEBOX]

What do Predators eat? It looks like their mouths are designed for biting and grasping, so what/how do they eat?

In addition, in Aliens, Ripley said that aliens "don't kill you". So why in the dog-alien, and even the alien in the first film, ripping people to shreds? I though aliens ate the hive webbing?
And, what do they use for swallowing? The inner, or the outer mouth?


Your thoughts??

[Meathead320]

As far as the Predator, I would get it swallows Bite sized chunks and has a good digestive system, or there may be teeth or "grinders" in the throat/stomach that we also do not see, or both.

I always figured the Alien's secondary mouth was really just a set of jaws on the tongue, but that it ate with a larger hole over the tongue. It too could have either grinders in its throat or stomach. I also think that its blood is the same stuff it used for digestive acid.

Perhaps the Aliens are far more calorie efficient than humans. Maybe they can get by with taking in very minimal amounts of organic matter, and the rest of their energy needs are from absorbing moisture, or ambient energy as fuel?

[Darkness]

They're both meat-eaters.

Here's an interesting theory from Anchorpoint about how aliens eat:

The Exobiology guild has recently put forth an interesting theory that presents the secondary jaws being used primarily in food intake. The maiming of prey is then seen as a secondary application. Through this theory I. raptus relies almost exclusively on expectorating its own reactive fluids onto a food source, and then using the tongue as a form of siphon to pull in the liquefied material. The teeth and mandibles that tip the tongue are then used in the tearing and ingesting small portions of soft tissue when expectoration is not required. The theory came about during a study of the Alien's over all physical structure and proportions: it was felt that the neck - in order to support the head - needed to be comprised largely of muscle, thereby leaving little room for an esophagus designed for ingesting large pieces of food. However, given current views on the incorporation of carbon on the Alien's exoskeleton the amount of musculature employed in the neck for head support may be lessened in favor of allowing the strength of the exoskeleton to absorb most of the supportive needs.

[Master Hobbs]

in p2, keyes said that the pred had a taste for beef, but who knows whats other type of meat they eat

[FACEBOX]

Hmmmm.

Thanks, good points. 

[SM]

The best theory about Alien's eating is in the Aliens RPG.  It says the eat a combination of organic and inorganic matter to reach maturity, but effectively draw their energy from the surrounding environment once grown (ie. they're like batteries that can charge from ambient electricity or even the power derived from a slight breeze) and only 'eat' to heal from injuries and to create hive resin.

[Punk19]

The mandibles of the predator would hold the meat in place while the outer teeth would rip it into pieces. Afterwards the other teeth (see Predator 2) would tear those chunks into smaller pieces for swallowing. I think the predator race are strict meat eaters.

I'm at a total loss at the Alien way of eating though.

[pred man]

Ya iin p2 it went to the meat house to eat raw beef every week i think it was
and in an alien i game (i forget which one) it said the chestburster ate a litter of kittens and then ate tghe mom cat so i think they're both meat eaters 

[Munkeywrench]

It says in one of the AVP books im not sure which, that the predators eat some kind of jerky im sure thats not all though.

[The Necronoir]

The mandibles of the predator would hold the meat in place while the outer teeth would rip it into pieces. Afterwards the other teeth (see Predator 2) would tear those chunks into smaller pieces for swallowing.

We see a predator eating a small mammal in Predator: Strange Roux, and it does precisely that.

[John-Kormag III]

my opinion:

about predators: their mouth could be compared to a crab's one. tearing into pieces with all these "legjaws", putting inside mouth and shredding enough to swallow.



the difference is that such mouth has really many additional shredding details inside it - and the predator, even when opening his "little inside mouth", doesnt show any more teeth - but has some kind of an opening membrane. "pussyface" as harrigan called it )))
the idea is that predator could produce some ferment that makes food liquid in a mouth already.
and he could not shred food enough by his mandibles - they are just needles, try to shred something with needles..
and also by his inside-mouth: 2 teeth on the up-jaw and 4-5 teeth on the down-jaw don't cover each other and don't give a scissors-effect.
so i think that predators (wild predators, when they were animals) used their paw-claws to tear the prey, mandibles just to kill it (our animals try to tear the neck veins - wild predator should have bigger mandibles and just put them inside neck, or spin, or any other point to kill in a moment) - and then they should use some ferment to spread it on food and make it soft.

the idea of a crab is not so.... so stupidly massive - but i cannot accept it because of the shape of mandibles. they don't seem to be made for tearing, they do not open widely into outside - nooo, their teeth are always directed inside, even fully spread. so they are just holders and maybe needles to make a deep hole in prey's vital points.

Afterwards the other teeth (see Predator 2) would tear those chunks into smaller pieces for swallowing

that strange brown double-"tongue" that the predator 2 showed? it seemed soft to me, not teeth.

* * * * *

about aliens: there is a funny fish, i don't know its english name, but here are its jaws - normal and shooting-from-inside. that fish clearly swallows food through the "inside jaws":





- but the inner jaws of this fish aren't connected to each other, they can be spread to swallow between them.
and the alien inside jaw doesn't seem to be able to spread, so i think that it is just an modified analog of a tongue, and food moves around it.
also the alien has quite big teeth on his normal jaws - they clearly would tear meat better than the attacking little tongue-jaw.

[Tundro]

I honestly have never lingered on this question for more than a second but now I'm totally intrigued by it.  I agree with the Predator 2 theory as far as them being meat eaters.  As for the Aliens, I personaly see them as sort of like an insect.  When was the last time you saw a bumble bee land and start chowing down on some ramen?

[John-Kormag III]

I agree with the Predator 2 theory as far as them being meat eaters

the problem is - how exactly they can use their mouth, i guess
and i am completely sure that mandibles cannot be used for tearing. they don't spread outside - the "teeth" themselves stay turned inside. bend all your fingers, spread them while still remaining bent - and try to shred something with such hands.

As for the Aliens, I personaly see them as sort of like an insect.

if we explore an alien better - he has nothing from an insect in his body. i also always called them "insects, bees, bugs" and so on - until one person told us that insects don't have soft skin and bones of an animal, and aliens don't have solid cover, don't have insect segments and don't have anything from an insect organism. only lifestyle - eggs, larvas, parasiting... but no biological comlparing.

[Tundro]

I didn't mean insect physicaly.  Think about an insect's life.  Most are hive based organisms and all revolve and work around a Queen.  As for the Alien's food intake, my general idea was that they don't really need to feed on any sort of meat or plant to survive, they just do.  As far as the Predator goes, I would think that all the technology they use would serve as more than just hunting equipment.  I can see a Predator using it's wrist blades or some other freakish cutting tool to devide the meat into portions that would indeed fit in its mouth. 

[John-Kormag III]

my general idea was that they don't really need to feed on any sort of meat or plant to survive, they just do.

sorry i don't understand you. all insects, and hive insects also, do eat. and also keep food for future. sorry if i don't understand you.

I can see a Predator using it's wrist blades or some other freakish cutting tool to devide the meat into portions

hey, we use instruments too, but - what did he do when he was just an animal and didn't have instruments - and even well-developed fingers? and how he uses his strange mouth device, why does he need it?