In Ridley Scott's 1979 movie 'Alien', after Ripley rigs the ship to self-destruct she proceeds to the escape pod, all the while the ship announcing that it has been rigged to blow and commencing a countdown.
Ripley reaches the escape pod, only to find the xenomorph already there. The xenomorph sees her, she freaks and runs back to the area where she rigged the explosives to try to disable the destruction sequence (which she couldn't). Strangely, the alien never followed her or gave chase, instead tucking himself into the escape pod while she was trying to reset the bomb.
This has always bothered me. For me, this reveals a predatory mind of the highest order. Could it be that the alien anticipated or understood the self-destruct sequence? It never bothers to follow Ripley upon the original rendezvous at the escape pod, even though it would have been easy for the alien to destroy her. Also, to further support this argument, after Ripley's initial revelation that the alien was also tucked away safely in the escape pod after blowing the mothership, the alien seems to be content just laying there idly, not showing any form of aggression towards Ripley until she tries to smoke / freeze it out.
Could it be that the alien was intelligent enough to know Ripley would attempt to return to earth or rendezvous with another ship, thereby ensuring it a steady supply of victims?
Considering this movie came out in '79, it's still remarkably watchable today, even raising questions I had not considered upon my original viewing as a youngster.
Answer
The xenomorphs in Resurrection are seen "communicating" with one another.
They screech and waggle their heads before executing a brutal - but decidedly premeditated - escape plan by killing one of their own and using its acid blood to melt through the floor of their cage.
I know, I know, Resurrection is not a great addition to the franchise, to say the least. But for better or for worse, it is part of the movie canon now. This scene does, fairly clearly IMO, establish that the xenomorphs are intelligent to a degree that they have some sort of language and are self-aware. They may not pursue technological invention, preferring instead to simply slaughter everything in their path, but that's only evidence of an alien mindset (pun not intended), not an animal one.
So, whether or not the xenomorph in the first movie could understand the meaning of the count-down sequence, it clearly understood that danger was imminent. It may have gotten that from the alarms though. (The fact that it knew to go to - and stay inside - the escape pod more strongly suggests that it knew what the escape pod was, at least.)
It's also possible that a xenomorph inherits a certain amount of knowledge from its host regarding language or basic instincts, but that's more hypothesis on my part than anything else.
Could it be that the alien was intelligent enough to know Ripley would attempt to return to Earth or rendezvous with another ship, thereby insuring it a steady supply of victims?
I would say certainly yes. The xenomorphs have shown this level of aptitude many times throughout the series:
From this moment in the escape pod, to the aliens coming through the vents in #2, rather than running down the hall into an ambush (which they recognized as a threat to avoid), to the xenomorph in Alien 3 leaving Ripley alone when it could have killed her (because it recognized she was carrying a Queen). The xenomorphs definitely have the ability to examine a situation tactically and respond accordingly, rather than simply killing everything that moves (and isn't them).
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