Fiction and non-fiction writers alike have imagined life on Mars. Now, you don't need any imagination to picture the resident as a giant bear.

Scientists at NASA have spotted what they say looks like a bear on the Red Planet.

The quirky image was captured in December by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter from a height of 156 miles (251 km).

The spacecraft used its HiRISE camera (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), which is the most powerful camera ever sent to another planet.

The space agency quipped in a headline on its website, "A Bear on Mars? This feature looks a bit like a bear's face. What is it really?"

Because they're smarter than the average bear, the researchers explained that the photo shows a hill with a V-shaped collapse structure (the nose), two craters (the eyes), and a circular fracture pattern (the head).

"The circular fracture pattern might be due to the settling of a deposit over a buried impact crater."

"Maybe the nose is a volcanic or mud vent and the deposit could be lava or mud flows?"

Maybe we all can just grin and ‘bear' it.

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