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According to IMDb:

Aliens are far more dangerous, they have no fear, can lose most of their limbs and still pose a major threat, they have acid blood, can kill with their claws, tails and teeth and can see predators even when they're cloaked.

I've never heard that they can see predators, especially when they're cloaked...

Are there direct references/examples to this in any of the AVP movies?

2 Answers 2

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Aliens don't have eyes. They sense their prey through changes in air pressure and noise. How they manage this with such accuracy isn't known, but a Predator's cloak bends light so that they appear camouflaged by their surroundings. When a Predator moves when cloaked they still emit changes in air pressure.

Aliens are also effective hunters underwater and can sense their prey's electromagnetic field much like a shark, and Aliens also adapt the senses of the host who gave birth to them. So if they are grown in a Predator they will take on Predator traits.

Aliens are a scary bunch! :)

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    Although this is interresting info and it sounds plausible, it would be nice to know where you got this information from, because as it stands it's a mere statement, much like the one the OP wanted to get references for.
    – Napoleon Wilson
    Apr 19, 2012 at 15:01
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    Sure, no problem. The info is out there. It's been in comics and the books. Here's an online reference. aliens.wikia.com/wiki/Xenomorph search for "electro-reception"
    – Reactgular
    Apr 19, 2012 at 19:09
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    Although I wholly agree with this excellent answer, it does raise a bit of a question regarding the alien's eyes. If the aliens do not actually have eyes, then why do their skulls (seen in Predator 2 and AvP) have eye sockets?
    – Nobby
    Apr 19, 2012 at 21:08
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    Those holes aren't eye sockets. They are part of the cheekbone that allows the jaw muscles to connect to the upper part of the skull. As seen in these image. graspingatcreativity.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/… and here to 4.bp.blogspot.com/-KoQYrSJEwpk/TWOq5jBw0AI/AAAAAAAAAg8/…
    – Reactgular
    Apr 20, 2012 at 1:22
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    There's a Q over at scifi.SE which asks whether the Xenomorphs have eyes. In my answer I argue (with references) that they quite likely - though not certainly - do. 8-)
    – OpaCitiZen
    Feb 11, 2013 at 15:30
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Although Xenomorphs don't have visibly obvious eyes, they have been demonstrated to be capable of seeing. For example, in the Aliens 3 movie, the runner has fish-eye vision similar to human. In the AVP PC games, aliens have two visual modes, one similar to human vision and another short-range sonar like vision that can be used to navigate in the dark.

Xenomorphs certainly can sense, if not see, cloaked predators. In the movie AVP 1, a Xenomorph drone impales a cloaked predator with its tail. Granted, the cloaked predator was moving, its cloak wasn't as effective as it was in a well lit area, and it made a sound by activating its wrist blades, but the drone had no problem knowing exactly where it was.

In the AVP PC games, Xenomorph see an aura around different species even cloaked predators. However, this aura is probably meant to convey a sense of smell as well as the sense of a slight bioelectric charge around living things like Matt said above with the shark example.

The entire skin of the Xenomorph is covered in ions which lets the Xenomorph use its entire surface area as a sophisticated EM sensor and nose. This is why in the AVP PC games Xenomorph appear to have electric fields around them when viewed by Predators in EM vision. This is also why Xenomorph are stunned by EM grenades whereas humans are not. The EM burst overloads the Xenomorph's sensory system like a flash-bang grenade would do to a human.

In any case, the Predator's cloaking device is worthless against xenomorphs and is best turned off so as not to drain energy from the Predator's weapon systems while fighting only Xenomorphs. Fighting both humans and Xenomorphs can be tricky for a Predator because the two prey are best dealt with using completely different tactics.

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