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Facehugger

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Facehugger
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Facehugger

A Facehugger is the first stage in the life-cycle of the fictional Xenomorph aliens seen in the Alien movie series.

It has no real attack abilities on its own, besides its impregnation role. The Facehugger is hatched from a large organic-looking egg and laid in groups by a Xenomorph Queen. Once laid, the egg remains immobile until it senses a suitable host organism. The eggs are covered by a layer of clear liquid that may sense nearby victims by their vibrations or scent.

Once a suitable host is nearby, the Facehugger emerges from the egg, launching itself at great speed towards the intended victim. The creature is highly aggressive in its search for a host to impregnate (though it may hide and search for another host if it misses its intended first victim). Its bony fingerlike legs allow it to scuttle rapidly, its prehensile tail can launch it in great leaps, and it is very strong for its size.

The Facehugger's one goal is to make contact with the host's face and mouth for the implantation process, by gripping its long, bony fingerlike legs around the victim's head and wrapping its tail around the host's neck, slowly tightening the tail in order to make the host suffocate and making the host now gasp for oxygen. At this point, the facehugger can insert an ovipositor into the mouth and down the throat without much struggle from the host. The host remains conscious throughout this process due to the attachment of the face. This part is hard for the facehugger because the ovipositor is larger than the human esophagus, the facehugger must take its time while moving the ovipositor down the host's throat. The ovipositor also acts to supply air to the host, for they cannot breathe while being impregnated. In the mean time, the facehugger proceeds to deposit an embryo inside the host, presumably in the chest cavity.

Attempts to remove Facehuggers have generally proved fatal — the parasite will suffocate its host with its tail if disturbed. Its acid blood means that it cannot be safely cut off, either. Once the alien embryo is safely within the host's chest and has begun to grow without the help of the facehugger, the Facehugger removes itself from the host's face and leaves, only to die a short time after. A few hours later, the host/victim will experience a large crack breaking out in their rib cage with a great deal of pain, and the newly born alien will emerge from the victim, leaving their former host dead.

 


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