Their supposed to according to what Noland says, but they don't really come off that way in the movie.
Noland totally eludes to them being genetic mutations. He talks about how they learn and adapt and modify themselves after every hunt to make themselves the ultimate hunters. And then the Rapist guy follows that up with a comment about them evolving. Seems pretty clear to me that the genetic mutation angle is in there.
How can you say that for sure? The Predator has never won. I would love that. Just like Jason Voorhees never wins, but what do people really go to the sequels to see more of? The human characters are always new, so nobody cares about them going in. They want to see Preds and Jason do what they do. I'd love to see a major battle between a Pred and a human where they just tear each other up all movie long, but the ultimate hunter, the Predator gets his ultimate trophy, and limps home. I'm so tired of watching Predators die at the end of the movie that I hardly give a crap how big, advanced tech, and strong they are. So far, they're just losers when they come up against humans and should have "kill me now" painted on their bio masks.
I want to see Jason win too. He's the hero of the movie when I'm watching it. Screw all those stupid teenagers characters. I go to Friday the 13th to see Jason. I go to Halloween to see Michael. I go to Nightmare to see Freddy. I go to a Predator movie for the Predator. Those are the real stars of the movie. It's about time they win.