# Aliens question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 6, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505 "2003-07-06T04:10:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aprilboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3e96dc/32.png) [@aprilboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aprilboy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/1 "2003-07-06T04:10:52Z")
Hi to all! I’m a big fan of the Aliens movies particularly part 2. I just wanted to know if anybody here knows the answer to a question that’s been bugging me for years: “Just what the hell did the aliens eat to survive?”. You’d think that after all these years they would have tackled this already but up until now I still have no idea what those things ate for dinner. Are they carnivores, herbivores, omnivores? I think it’s been pretty much established that they don’t eat humans since we don’t see any scenes involving this and only use them for breeding purposes. I don’t think there are any humans from wherever the hell they came from and therefore would be unlikely to form part of their natural diet. Thank you in advance for any enlightenment you might provide! ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/2 "2003-07-06T04:21:26Z")
Maybe they eat each other? ---
**Author:** ![Phnord\_Prephect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Phnord\_Prephect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phnord_Prephect)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/3 "2003-07-06T04:56:00Z")
Aliens have acidic saliva, right? Eats right through steel floors and stuff. So, logically, they’d eat stuff they’d need such saliva for. Perhaps that’s exactly what they ate…steel floors. Or other materials. Who knows. Not me, that’s now painfully obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/4 "2003-07-06T04:58:18Z")
Is their saliva acidic? I thought it was just their blood that was acidic. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/5 "2003-07-06T05:00:13Z")
heated Vasiline. At least, that’s what they’re drooling. ---
**Author:** ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/6 "2003-07-06T05:00:19Z")
Perhaps the food stores were raided regularly and Ridley Scott forgot to mention it. ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/7 "2003-07-06T06:17:29Z")
Yep, only their blood burns. The rest is just icky goo. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/8 "2003-07-06T07:20:03Z")
I always wondered if the acidic blood was how they stored their energy as opposed to storing it as fat or something or if it was so they didn’t have to waste energy maintaining their body temperature becase their body chemistry was so reactive it would function even at low temperatures. ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/9 "2003-07-06T08:02:17Z")
As I understand it the xenomorphs do eat animals and other creatures. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/10 "2003-07-06T12:03:27Z")
The novelization of the first movie explicitly mentioned that the crew found that their food stores had been broken into and eaten. Also, considering that the eggs survived who knows how long a period before being awakened, I would guess that the aliens can hibernate in a nearly zero energy usage state when there’s no prey around. Finally, given how these creatures seem perfectly adapted (engineered?) to prey on spacegoing sentient life, I wonder if they can somehow actually tap electricity for their energy needs, and only eat to grow in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Sock\_Munkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Sock\_Munkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sock_Munkey)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/aliens-question/186505/11 "2003-07-06T12:15:53Z")
Having them feed on electricity wold make a certainamont of sense regarding their body chemistry and it would explain the following line from aliens. “They cut the power? How could they cut the power? They’re ANIMALS!”. Having them understand electricity is a bit of a stretch but it would make sense for them to chew on the power cables to feed.