Predator Culture, Biology And Technology

[Estelle]

Dan, that's what I was trying to get at in so many words. Preds make some use of
O2, perhaps not after the same manor as humans. Yes, agree. And, there is no doubt
there are elements in their body as alien as they are.

 

[predation]

Dan, I've always pondered upon the same thing. How in the heck could the Predator see/read the characters on his
wrist panel, when -on earth and unaided by his bio- his eyesite seemed so limited. I always figured that the digit display
was designed to be visible to him dispite his seemingly poor vision. Another theroy I always held is similar to yours.
Perhaps, the predator's eyesight was effected by the earth's unique light spectrum, and depending on where he happens to be
located in the universe, and what type of light is available, his natural vision could be better or worse than
what it was on earth. For some reason, I have always felt that a preds
eyes are " sensitive " to various light waves and spectrums. Even before they became a space faring race they used the
stars to navigate by.
~Estelle

that puzzled me as well, i always thought that their hair appendages had some aid in it. in some animals, certain hairs are sensitive to such things as knowing their surroundings. because, in the first movie, its odd how the Predator never ended up bumping into trees or falling by mistake. so i assume they have some sort of extrasensory perception. perhaps their hair...

 

[damagecase]

Predation,

Hahahaha....(maniacal laugh, well at least I tried...)

The dreads are another of my favorite talking points and Predation, my dear friend, you hit a home run. But in all seriousness, I have always thought of the dreads as kind of feelers similar to the barbels on the mouth of a catfish. If that is the case, they would give the predator an additional means of prey detection and physical orientation about its environment. They could detect different chemical signatures in the are around them, be sensitive to micro changes in air pressure, help judge distance and physical orientation, temperature, wind etc. The possibilities are nearly endless. And why not I say? Its one of their most distinctive features, why not have it be one of their greatest assets?

As to the "hair" relating to there written language, well I don't really buy that. Primarily because, if their written language was based on touch, why would they have a visual indicator for a self destruction device? That being said the written language thing is still problematic. I do think we have touched on the solution here though. Whether its my idea of the internal light spectrum variation through the use of an evolved nictating lens, or Lflanks idea of an alien media that would be visible to preds or Estelle's idea that the preds vision is affected adversely by something here on Earth (whether its Earth's unique atmosphere or perhaps even the sun it self or some other variable has yet to be determined.) Of course I like my idea best but the other two certainly warrant consideration. I hope to eventually hash out my idea better as I hope Estelle and Lflank will also.

However, if you're set on that idea, I would be open to listen to you kinda lay it out a bit more.

 

[Lflank]

Predation,

Hahahaha....(maniacal laugh, well at least I tried...)

The dreads are another of my favorite talking points and Predation, my dear friend, you hit a home run. But in all seriousness, I have always thought of the dreads as kind of feelers similar to the barbels on the mouth of a catfish. If that is the case, they would give the predator an additional means of prey detection and physical orientation about its environment. They could detect different chemical signatures in the are around them, be sensitive to micro changes in air pressure, help judge distance and physical orientation, temperature, wind etc. The possibilities are nearly endless. And why not I say? Its one of their most distinctive features, why not have it be one of their greatest assets?

As an aside, tarantulas are covered by sensory hairs, and scorpions have them too. Each hair is connected to its own nerve ending, making the animal extremely sensitive to things like vibration and changes in air pressure, temperature etc. Tarantulas even have chemical sensors on their feet (so they know what you taste like before they bite you). Despite having very poor vision, tarantulas and scorpions are very finely attuned to their surroundings, and nothing escapes their notice.

 

[Lflank]

Got a wild idea. What if the preds entire vascular system was composed of cardiac tissue? So, hypothetically, the blood would be pumped along by the very veins and arteries that carry it. Any thoughts?

I do like this idea--I can't think offhand of any terrestrial organism that does this (a closed circulatory system without a heart, where the blood vessels themselves do all the pumping). It is actually a workable idea that really is "alien". I suppose there must be some obscure biological inefficiency in it, though, or some terrestrial critter or another would have tried it out successfully. Mother Nature is usually pretty thorough about trying out every possibility. But the rules that determine "efficiency" on another planet may be entirely different than here, so it may work there even if it doesn't work well here.

I like it.

 

[damagecase]

I'm glad to hear it. It would certainly make for a unique physiology. Also as to the efficiency, wouldn't our alien metal transport system possibly affect it?

 

[damagecase]

It would also possibly account for what Estelle described as the rolling heart beat.

 

[damagecase]

Oh I got my Monette Pred book today so I'll be reading that over the next few days as well.

 

[damagecase]

Oh and about the tarantula and scorpion hairs. I think the dreads could very well work in that capacity except that rather than inorganic hair, they are living tissue.

 

[Lflank]

I'm glad to hear it. It would certainly make for a unique physiology. Also as to the efficiency, wouldn't our alien metal transport system possibly affect it?

Maybe, maybe not. The circulatory system is basically just a pump, and pumps do what they do pretty independently of what it is they are pumping. But what a different metal might do is change the physical characteristics of the blood to make a single heart unsuitable--perhaps making the blood too thick for a heart to pump, thereby requiring that the whole system be one big pump.

As to Estelle's point about the rolling heartbeat, a heartless circulatory system (or perhaps more correctly a circulatory system in which everything contracts like a heart) certainly would have a unique heartbeat.

 

[Estelle]

I was under the impression the predator used something similar to echolocation to find his way around safely. That's what was
behind all the "clicking"? Idk. But, you're onto something concerning the quill/hairs though. I'm not sure how accurate the
sideshow predator (classic) skull is, but you can see pits in the bone where the smaller facial quill/hairs attach. Perhaps that
indicates the possibility of these particular hairs having some greater sensory capacity. There is a bts interview, in which it
was mentioned how the larger dread quills were an erogenous zone

 

[Estelle]

Got a wild idea. What if the preds entire vascular system was composed of cardiac tissue? So, hypothetically, the blood would be pumped along by the very veins and arteries that carry it. Any thoughts?

only thing with this is...its stated in the screen play that the Predator has a quadruple rolling heart. And, you actually can hear the preds heart in the first movie
if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Estelle]

Oh and about the tarantula and scorpion hairs. I think the dreads could very well work in that capacity except that rather than inorganic hair, they are living tissue.

I'd imagine the dread quills are " living" tissue, having something similar to a, blood supplying 'quick', located at the dread quills base near the skull.

 

[damagecase]

There might be something to the whole dreads/quills as an erogenous zone. Perhaps a clue into the preds sex life? It would seem to logically follow that A) if the dreads/quills are some kind of esp, then they would also be very sensitive to any kind of contact and B) something as important as this adaptation to the pred would be something they would defend greatly and would only allow that kind of contact with someone they had a great deal of trust in.

Note I used esp as the literal extra sensory perception, which the dreads being certainly extra in human terms, seems accurate.

And your right Estelle it does say quadruple rolling heart beats verbatim in the book. I'm still hung up on the whole Klingon thing though, although I don't know which species got the additional origin concept first, although Klingons have been around longer.

I will say this, the story is in fact a human interpreting a pred (I know there really can't be any other way) but do we know the preds idea of a heart and our idea of a heart are interchangeable? I know I'm splitting hairs but even in human society heart has two meanings, the physiological entity and the emotional one. I'm really not trying to move away from the original idea, but I just want to make sure it is original.

 

[Estelle]

I don't think the predators dreads are a direct or super erogenous zone, like er, umm, the obvious parts of a man or woman's body, namely the reproductive
parts. ( trying to keep it PG) I don't think the dreads are that sensitive. I'd say they are erogenous in the way the nape of the neck or the inner thigh and back of the knees can be. While these areas are sensitive, they are durable enough for coming into contact with many things on a day to day bases. Also, it was said
how the dreads protect a preds neck from attack from behind. With a quick turn of the head, the dreads, especially when weighted with quill beads, can deliver
a nasty 'slap' to an attackers face.

Those ol' Klingons have been around decades longer than the Preds. Maybe P. Monette, drew his idea from them, maybe he didn't, but I think he meant what
he said. By heart, he means heart.

 

[damagecase]

Well maybe preds have an eight chambered heart? Two chambers per beat? I would be more comfortable with that than the additional organ I guess.

And to the erogenous zone point, yeah I didn't mean to imply they were on par with genitals, but rather they were highly sensitive and for anyone to get that close, well it would kind of imply intimacy. At the very least a high level of trust. You know its funny I never really thought of the dread beads as weapons but yeah, I imagine they could give a nasty slap.

While we are on somewhat of a socio-cultural kind of tangent I wanted to through this idea out. I do not believe the preds live in a violent culture. A lot of the fiction out there has constantly fighting among themselves in a constant struggle for power and prestige. At the level of development and sophistication preds most have attained, I can't believe petty things like that could exist at all. I can see them being prideful and speciest but the internal workings of their society should be pretty smooth running. Thats not to say they don't have something incredibly brutal like, for example, the Spartan agoge for the children to train and acclimate them to the riggers of their lively hood. Further, I kind of think there may a sort of cast system involved but we can talk more about that later.

 

[Lflank]

I do not believe the preds live in a violent culture. A lot of the fiction out there has constantly fighting among themselves in a constant struggle for power and prestige.

Nearly all of the fiction (and the later movies) treat Preds as if they were warriors or serial killers, not hunters. There's a big difference.

 

[damagecase]

I completely agree. But lets just deal with the movies because that's what most people know. I think the only two movies where we actually dealt with mature preds is the original and AVP:R. The other three in my opinion focused on young immature hunters.

BTW just watched Prometheus and we may have to delve into that once everyone has had a chance to see it.

 

[damagecase]

Nearly all of the fiction (and the later movies) treat Preds as if they were warriors or serial killers, not hunters. There's a big difference.

I don't know if serial killer or warrior is exactly what we've seen. Calling them either is kind of an anthropomorphism.

 

[Iorek Titan]

Lets change gears a bit though for a minute. I would like to discuss the xenomorph's role in predator culture. The Perry book explores the idea but I think its poorly done. And sticking with our theme of preds as natuarlistic in nature, I would argue that xenos may in fact be a manufactured species. Something that has been engineered to serve a purpose of some kind. Now there origin is, if possible, more murky than the predators so we have a lot of work to do with them as well.

I'd like to agree on some ground rules with the whole AVP relationship. Primarily that there is one and that most if not all the attempts at explaining it have missed the mark.

Lets change gears a bit though for a minute. I would like to discuss the xenomorph's role in predator culture. The Perry book explores the idea but I think its poorly done. And sticking with our theme of preds as natuarlistic in nature, I would argue that xenos may in fact be a manufactured species. Something that has been engineered to serve a purpose of some kind. Now there origin is, if possible, more murky than the predators so we have a lot of work to do with them as well.

I'd like to agree on some ground rules with the whole AVP relationship. Primarily that there is one and that most if not all the attempts at explaining it have missed the mark.

I think prometheus helps with that there, and perhaps the Predators came across it and exploited their functions with the humans as discussed, but the idea of prometheus surely... well destroys the AVP non-canon idea and renews that the alien species came about after humans had mastered interstellar travel and not been around for centuries on earth... either way, its an epic story and one I think deserves some credit.
But, see it as you may, I won't argue, both stories interest me, and I would say are 'likely' stories. I prefer to dwell on the idea that either way whatever the origin of the Alien, its something the predators exploit for their hunting values of course, and see it as a challenging hunt, nothing more.