An elephants memory
As you well know, I don't
usually like these
heartwarming fuzzy animal stories, but this
one is truly
interesting...*
*In 1986, a Mike Membre was on holiday in
Kenya ( In the
Laikipia Region, which is where Taygen and
I were last month)
after graduating from Northwestern
University.**
On a hike through the bush, he came across
a young bull
elephant standing with one leg raised in
the air.
The elephant seemed distressed, so Membre
approached it very
carefully.
He got down on one knee and inspected the
elephant's foot and
found a large piece of burnt wood deeply
embedded in it.
As carefully and as gently as he could,
Membre worked the wood
out with his hunting knife, after which the
elephant gingerly
put down its foot.
The elephant turned to face the man, and
with a rather curious
look on its face, stared at him for several
tense moments.**
**
Membre stood frozen, thinking of nothing
else but being
trampled. Eventually the elephant trumpeted
loudly, turned,
and walked away. Membre never forgot that
elephant or the
events of that day.
**
**
TWENTY YEARS LATER, Membre was walking
through the Chicago Zoo
with his teenaged son.**
**
As they approached the elephant enclosure,
one of the
creatures turned and walked over to near
where Membre and his
son Cantri were standing. The large bull
elephant stared at
Membre, lifted its front foot off the
ground, then put it
down. The elephant did that several times
then trumpeted
loudly, all the while staring at the man.
Remembering the encounter in 1986, Membre
couldn't help
wondering if this was the same elephant.
Membre summoned up all his courage, climbed
over the railing
and made his way into the enclosure.
He walked right up to the elephant and
stared back in wonder.
The elephant trumpeted again, wrapped its
trunk around one of
Membre's legs and raised him high into the
air and slammed him
against the railing, killing him instantly.
**
**
Probably wasn't the same elephant.*
