In 1986, Mkele Mbembe was on holiday in Kenya 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 Mbembe approached it very carefully.

He got down on one knee and inspected the elephant's foot

and found a large piece of wood deeply embedded in it.

As carefully and as gently as he could, Mbembe 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.

Mbembe stood frozen, thinking of nothing else but being trampled.

Eventually the elephant trumpeted loudly, turned, and walked away.

Mbembe never forgot that elephant or the events of that day.

Twenty years later, Mbembe 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 Mbembe and his son Tapu were standing.

The large bull elephant stared at Mbembe, 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, Mbembe couldn't help

wondering if this was the same elephant.

Mbembe summoned up 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 Mbembe' s legs and slammed him against the railing,

killing him instantly .

Probably wasn't the same elephant.