Elephant on Mars Sculpted by Lava Flow (NASA/JPL/University of Arizona)
The dried flood of lava over the exterior of Mars has created the spitting figure of the eye and trunk of an elephant.
The arc of the animal's forehead and the dent of an ear also appear in a new photograph taken by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
"This is a fine example of the phenomena 'pareidolia,' somewhere we see things (such as animals) that aren't actually there," University of Arizona planetary geologist Alfred McEwen wrote in an modernize posted on the university's HiRISE website.
The Mars elephant illusion snap shows a section of the Red Planet called the Elysium Planitia, which is the youngest flood-lava region on Mars.
Scientists aren't confident if the lava flows on Mars were deposited rapidly, or over a longer moment in time period, as is the case on Earth, wherever most lava floods were put in position over years to decades.
"This is most likely accurate for much of the lava on Mars as well," McEwen wrote. "An elephant can walk away from the gradually advancing flow front. However, there is as well proof for much more rapidly flowing lava on Mars, a right flood of lava. In this case, maybe this elephant couldn't run away quick enough."
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been rotating the Red Planet since 2006, was launched in 2005. The orbiter, at present in an extensive phase of its mission, has transmitted additional data to Earth than all further interplanetary missions combined, NASA officials have said.
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