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Artificial intelligence could one day allow humans to hold conversations with elephants, whales and other animals, according to researchers exploring the patterns hidden in their calls. The prospect is examined by Professor Hannah Fry in an episode of her BBC2 documentary series, The Future With Hannah Fry, which looks at growing efforts to understand animal communication and the possibility of responding in ways animals might recognise.

A skull, a queen, a sphinx, two elephants and a toad: ten rock formations around the world that look like faces and animals.

## **Rock formations** that look alive No one carved the faces. Rain, frost, wind and the sea did the shaping, from a California desert to a bay in Vietnam. Their shapes suggest a skull, a queen, a sphinx, two elephants and a toad. More: **I Had to Look Twice (9 Photos)** * * * ### 👑 Queen’s Head — Yehliu Geopark, New Taipei, Taiwan 🇹🇼 A long neck, a proud chin and her hair piled up high. Sea water and wind shaped this sandstone at Yehliu Geopark on Taiwan’s north coast, and the head is likened to the piled-up curls of the royal it is named after. **💡 Neck Fact:** She is about 4,000 years old and not getting any younger: the neck loses 1.5 to 1.6 cm of its circumference every year. The park scans her twice a year so a copy can be made, and one replica already stands at the entrance. 📷 Photo: Mark S. Piteo-Tarpy / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) * * * ### 🐘 Elephant Rock — Heimaey, Westman Islands, Iceland 🇮🇸 Wrinkled gray skin, a small eye and a trunk that goes straight down into the North Atlantic. This is the basalt coast of Heimaey, an island about 7.4 kilometers off Iceland’s south coast. **💡 Boat Fact:** The best view is from the water. Sightseeing boats from Heimaey pass the elephant, the sea cliffs and the puffin colonies between May and September. 📷 Photo and cover crop: Diego Delso, delso.photo / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) * * * ### 🐢 Turtle Rock — Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, Mongolia 🇲🇳 A head pushed forward, a ridged shell behind it, and a row of white yurts for scale. Turtle Rock stands in Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, connected to Ulaanbaatar by a paved road. **💡 Size Fact:** The turtle, Melkhii Khad in Mongolian, is a granite formation 24 meters (79 feet) high. Its old name was Mungut Khad. 📷 Photo: Dan Nevill / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) * * * ### 💀 Skull Rock — Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA 🇺🇸 Two dark eye sockets and a bony brow, staring at the traffic on Park Boulevard. Over many millennia, water drops slowly wore the two holes into the granite. **💡 Trail Fact:** It sits just east of Jumbo Rocks Campground, and the Skull Rock Nature Trail is a short walk from the parking area. 📷 Photo and cover crop: డా. గన్నవరపు నరసింహమూర్తి / Wikimedia Commons (CC0) * * * ### 🗿 The Sphinx — Bucegi Mountains, Romania 🇷🇴 Look at the left edge: a forehead, a nose and a closed mouth, in profile against the sky. The Bucegi Sphinx stands on a plateau at 2,216 meters. **💡 Name Fact:** The first photo of it was probably taken around 1900, but it was only named after the Great Sphinx of Giza in 1936. 📷 Photo: Radu Privantu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) * * * ### 🐘 Roccia dell’Elefante — Castelsardo, Sardinia, Italy 🇮🇹 Another elephant, this one parked by a road in northern Sardinia, trunk curled down to the guardrail. The Elephant Rock is a large trachyte and andesite rock about 4 meters tall, with a strong rusty color under the lichen. **💡 Tomb Fact:** Someone did carve this one, just not the elephant. Two Domus de Janas tombs were cut into it in the final Neolithic, about 3200–2800 BC. 📷 Photo: Antonello.franzil / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) * * * ### 🐉 Hvítserkur — Vatnsnes Peninsula, Iceland 🇮🇸 Head down, front legs in the sea. The two holes at its base give it the look of a dragon that is drinking. Hvítserkur is a 15-meter basalt stack off the Vatnsnes peninsula. **💡 Troll Fact:** Local legend says it was a troll who was turned to stone by the rising sun. In the mid-20th century, farmers reinforced its base with concrete to keep it standing. 📷 Photo: Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) * * * ### 🐫 Camel Rock — Tesuque, New Mexico, USA 🇺🇸 A camel lying down in the junipers, its head held up toward the highway. Camel Rock is pink sandstone, about 40 feet high and 100 feet long, with a free roadside stop next to it. **💡 Mouth Fact:** In February 2017, the camel lost its mouth, apparently from natural causes. The camel is still easy to spot from U.S. Route 84/285 north of Santa Fe. 📷 Photo: Highlightwiki / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0) * * * ### 🐸 Toad Rock — Rusthall Common, Tunbridge Wells, England 🇬🇧 A fat toad squatting on its rock, ready to jump. Toad Rock is a block of Ardingly Sandstone, a layer that resists weathering, and its name already appears in a guide from 1823. **💡 Fame Fact:** In 1904 the writer E.V. Lucas put it simply: “Toad Rock is to Tunbridge Wells what the leaning tower is to Pisa.” The railings around its base date back to 1881–82. 📷 Photo: Poliphilo / Wikimedia Commons (CC0) * * * ### 🐓 Hòn Trống Mái — Ha Long Bay, Vietnam 🇻🇳 Two birds face to face in the sea, almost touching. Hòn Trống Mái has many names: Trong Mai, Chicken Mate, Kissing Rocks or Fighting Cocks islet. Kiss or fight, it depends on who is looking. **💡 Legend Fact:** In one story, the Jade Emperor sent a rooster and a hen down by mistake, and they were turned to stone in the bay. 📷 Photo: Nguyễn Thanh Quang / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Le projet des Machines de l'île est à la croisée des « mondes inventés » de Jules Verne, de l’univers de Léonard de Vinci et du passé industriel de Nantes.

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