 Dennis Feldman had the idea for Species in 1987 , as he worked on another film about an alien invasion , Real Men . Having read an article by Arthur C. Clarke about the <unk> odds against an extraterrestrial craft ever locating and visiting Earth , given that stellar distances are great , and faster @-@ than @-@ light travel is unlikely , Feldman started to think that it was " <unk> for any alien culture to come here in what [ he ] ' d describe as a big tin can . " Thus in turn he considered that the possibility of extraterrestrial contact was through information . Then he detailed that a message would contain instructions from across the void to build something that would talk to men . Instead of a mechanical device , Feldman imagined <unk> . The visitor would adapt to Earth 's environment through DNA belonging to Earth 's organisms . <unk> has sent to space transmissions " giving out directions " such as the Arecibo message , which Feldman considered <unk> , as they relay information to potential predators from outer space . He pointed out that " in nature , one species would not want a predator to know where it hides . " 
