'Elephant Face' On Mars Is Really Lava Flood Seen By Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (PHOTO)

It looks as if scientists have finally caught a glimpse of life on Mars—well, at least something that looks like life. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter snapped a photo of of a lava flood on Mars’ Elysium Planitia region that looks distinctly like an elephant's face.

The photo, like photos of the Man on the Moon, has been called an instance of "pareidolia,” a phenomenon in which people perceive familiar scenes in otherwise unremarkable images. It was released last Wednesday by NASA's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE).

“An elephant can walk away from the slowly advancing flow front,” Alfred McEwen, a planetary geologist at the University of Arizona and the principal investigator for the orbiter's HiRISE camera, said in a statement on the HiRISE website. “However, there is also evidence for much more rapidly flowing lava on Mars, a true flood of lava. In this instance, maybe this elephant couldn't run away fast enough.”

Mars' volcanoes are the largest in the solar system. One lava flow, found in the same Elysium Planitia region, is about the size of Oregon, according to NASA.

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Comments

[bryanzth]

10:55 PM on 04/24/2012

Is that IT? AWWW.... It looks more like a Mastodon.

BZ.

[BannedInBoston]

03:39 PM on 04/12/2012

'Elephant Face' On Mars Is Really Lava Flood Seen By Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter -- Headline

And you maybe thought I had some other explanation?...

[BannedInBoston]

03:38 PM on 04/12/2012

No, it's really a political cartoon about Republicans....

[lifeandvictory]

10:14 AM on 04/12/2012

Haha, no no. The elephant race will be here in 2012.

[RobertFromMN]

05:42 AM on 04/12/2012

Elephants Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.

[cagog]

03:56 PM on 04/11/2012

Just like the Nazca liamerica South America...but in Mars. Very interesting since Mars has those other ruins, hmmmmmmmmmm.

[Tony Rochon]

08:37 PM on 04/10/2012

It's Ganesh!

[phal4875]

01:49 PM on 04/10/2012

He has finally done it. Newt Gingrich has moved a symbol of his party off the earth. He talked about the moon, at first, but it appears that Gingrich is now colonizing Mars with his elephant.

[whirlpool]

02:11 PM on 04/10/2012

Actually Mars is where his wife Callista is from. See her in the movie Mars Attacks.

[Jim NLN]

01:27 PM on 04/10/2012

How convenient!

[pepperhead124]

10:46 AM on 04/10/2012

Like someone else mentioned, it is quite interesting that stuff like this will get attention, while at the same time these so-called scientists are pretending the pyramids on Mars do not exist.

[phal4875]

01:51 PM on 04/10/2012

The "pyramids" were built by the Martians who used the famous "canals" for barge traffic about 500 million years ago. The minimal atmosphere does not allow the pyramids to deteriorate much over time. Mr. Spock told me.

[Killermolls44]

03:13 PM on 04/12/2012

Or maybe its because they don't waste their time with baseless assumptions thought up by drug addicts.

[SiriusMrE]

10:17 AM on 04/10/2012

Sorry. I don't buy it.

And the lava "flooded" from where? To where? Where are the lava out-flows?

[Dr Mephisto]

10:43 AM on 04/10/2012

What do you mean, you don't buy it? Is that another way of saying you believe the formation is actually the head of an elephant??

[SiriusMrE]

10:55 AM on 04/10/2012

Ha. Funny.

No, I mean that I do not believe that lava flow created that formation. Again, where are the out-flows?

[Killermolls44]

03:14 PM on 04/12/2012

Mars has some of the largest volcanoes in the solar system....

[squiresent]

10:00 AM on 04/10/2012

Amazing how we are presented with pictures like this and the accompanying explanation that people see shapes, faces, etc. where there are none, while other photos of Mars exist that really show something worthwhile, but these are not presented or discussed at all. Are there pictures of Mars that show, unambiguously,, the existence of life? Check this link and decide for yourself: Select the second image link and enlarge - look especially at the upper part of the image strip to see the incredible truth.

http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/m07_m12/images/M08/M0804688.html

[EEKuersten]

09:56 AM on 04/10/2012

Typical genius disinformation - this goofball Rorschach cartoon 'discovery' indirectly belittles and defangs efforts to get NASA to release the 'real' Mars information--about the pyramids, canals, human 'face' and other anomalies. I salute their ability to manipulate the press, but worry if they keep the truth from us too long we won't be ready for the reptilian takeover of 2012.

[Dr Mephisto]

10:44 AM on 04/10/2012

Joking, right??

[EEKuersten]

11:21 AM on 04/10/2012

I wish... mankind (and our bigfoot ancestors) were 'born' there. Study the position of the Mars pyramids (by the face) in relation to the ones we have in Egypt and Central America... and savor the staggering amount of evidence and wild man theorizing the net provideth!

[phal4875]

01:54 PM on 04/10/2012

The amphibians will arrive first in order to prepare the way for the reptiles, birds, and mammals. The Martian fish are out of luck.

[Jim Vaughn]

09:49 AM on 04/10/2012

I don't see an elephant.........I see a butterfly, no no no I see a rhino, no no it is DEFINATELY Al Gore. The plant is filled with aliens who look like Al Gore............We should nuke them while we can.

[phal4875]

01:55 PM on 04/10/2012

Since "it's my party," I see Leslie Gore.

[chicago swede]

09:29 AM on 04/10/2012

Lame . Nothing better to write about?