The Flayed Bodies, Food or Warning?

Well I've always seen it as intimidation or a ritual. We're all very aware of how ritualistic Predators can be, And although we do not know what they have in mind when they do it, We can be safe to assume that it is just part of there belief system.However, it could just be that they want to scare the living shit out of its preys friends. Which i also think is a strong possibility. It sure as hell sends a strong message.

We can also consider that the Predators drain the blood to allow for ease of trophy taking, But you'd have to ask SR about that one.

Edit: I looked back on some old threads and found this comment by Stalker

The predator, to me anyway, only sems to make trophies out of prey which put up an honourable fight & which have the guts to stand up to it, 1 on 1. There's hardly any honour in taking a trophy of prey which you just shot while they were unaware. As for the skinning & hanging, the preds use that as an indimidation tactic, to strike fear into the heart of their prey, it makes the hunt more interesting, it'd put the $#its up anything to see their own kind skinned & hanging upside down. It's is also used to show their hunting territory, to ward off rival hunters, letting them know that this is their preferred hunting ground.

Link: http://www.avpuniverse.com/forum/2196.html

^Yeah, everything in that post was also heavily implied by Dutch's crew when they first encountered the skinned bodies (I just recently watched Predator, so I'm at least 80% sure I'm not talking out of my ass).

They only take the spines/skulls of "top kills." Notice how City Hunter and Wolf don't have hundreds upon hundreds of trophies - I imagine they also share "War Stories" about how they got particular trophies, making each individual one even more valuable.

I could have sworn in Predator that the bodies were only skinned, and not gutted. If you leave the organs in it will ruin the meat, especially if you impale it or otherwise damage the gut area internally.

Since they as far as I can tell are mammal-like reptiles(having scaled digits and quills on their brows) they may be letting the corpses rot, since reptiles that eat meat seem to like it on the green side of nasty.

And it very well be to scare away weaker, less honorable prey so that only the tougher ones actually cross into their hunting ground. Also the point to mark the area as theirs to other predators that was brought up is also a very plausible reason.

As for the blood draining, that is to make the meat taste better, that is the sole purpose for doing that. Taking trophies will be the same with or without the blood drained, draining the blood makes animals taste less gamey if they eat things like acorns or apricots, and just makes them taste better in general, even if they wouldn't taste gamey, though that is the main reason to do it. So my guess would be that they eat the stuff they string up.

i disagree with predators eating humans. it doesn't sound enough like a predator.

I'd say they just leave the bodies out to dry before they clean the meat off the bones for trophy-taking purposes. In Predator 2 it was pointed out that the predator fed on beef.

^Oh yeah, that's something that's always looked over.

Them eating humans is always a possibility, but it's in the same domain as "Do Xenos have personalities?" Possible, but there's not really any proof. Don't get me wrong, it's perfectly fine to wonder about that, like it is with Xeno personalities (it would explain a lot in regards to the Giger Drone's rapist attitude vs. the Warrior's "no nonsense" attitude).

Krio, do you think it doesn't seem enough like the Predators because you view them as a heroic figure and not a monster that hunts humans?

Anyway, yeah it makes sense for the intimidation/territory thing, but I'm thinking that, especially when they're gutted, food might be in the question too.

You've got to be kidding me, fire hunter! You rhink i see predators as heroic super heroes (i hate super heroes, except batman)?!?!?!?!?

No. I mean as in: it is not like a predator to eat humans. Think of it. An alien hunter with laser weapons and is probably more civilized then a normal human.... Oh, and to make an extra, it eats humans!

No! If it did eat humans, why didn't it eat the guy in "predators"? The one that was later used as bait! It didn't, because it hunts for sport! I say that flaying bodies is simply used to scare prey. If not, why did they never eat xeno flesh? They could take the acid away, and eat it. But they don't. Predators are also never seen eating prey. There is never a scene or clip.

I think predators eat ONLY when they need to! So not on a regular basis.

"I killed mah prey fo' sport, now im'ah eat, cause i feel like it!"

He didn't say super heroes, he said heroes and your reply is absolutely indicative of the fact that you do view them as heroes. I have no idea why you're acting like it's unheard of for predators to eat their prey. The only reason a predator wouldn't eat humans is that the people they hunt aren't really all that meaty compared to other possible food sources. And where the hell are you getting this "more civilized than a normal human" idea? They have always been thought to be tribal. And hunting for sport is exactly the opposite of civilized. I think the only problem here is miscommunication, because you don't really know what a lot of words mean or how society works. Killing for sport and then eating your prey is not in any way contradictory. Fishing for sport and then eating the fish is, because the fish is not dead when it's caught, but when you're killing, the fucking thing is dead and not eating it is just a huge waste, unless it's not edible.

You do see them as heroes, because you hold them to some unrealistic standard, which would be really quite ok if the standard weren't based on a wrong premise.

Krio, Predators don't often see humans as anything more than prey, they hunt us and it makes sense that they eat us. They wouldn't eat Xenomorphs because of the acid, which would make it far too dangerous to eat (it's not as simple as just taking away the acid, I bet).

Predators are mentioned to eat, in Predator 2 it was feeding from a slaughterhouse. The reason it wouldn't have eaten the guy in Predators was actually mentioned in your post -to use him as bait.

I'm not saying they eat because they feel like it, I'm saying that they string them up to eat them LATER in the hunt, because they might choose to stay in the hunting ground for months or even years.

Also, I wouldn't call a species that hunts other sapient and intelligent species as "civilised". They're actually quite a primal and brutal civilisation. Highly advanced, sure, but tribal at the core.

So you mean that i see them as "heroes" because... I think they are more civilized? I think, as seen in predators, that they can be quite civilized, seeing how the predators can work with humans, as can humans work with dogs.

And about the washing acid away, really? Wolf was able too get acid out of a xeno body in seconds! After that, he made armor for that chick (what ever the hell her name was, i already forgot).

And NO! I don't see them as heroes! I see them as a whole diffrent species, much more civilized then humans. So stop saying i see them as heroes!


I actaully see them as hostiles....

As I said, you see them as heroes, but you don't know what the word means.

Further proof that you don't know what words mean is this: "I think, as seen in predators, that they can be quite civilized"

There was absolutely no sign of civilization in Predators. It was literally a bunch of psychopaths killing each other in a jungle for no reason. The fact that they can adopt a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" mindset is not at all civilized, even plants and mushrooms can figure that one out.