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- Tucker and Baylor.
- 160,000 gallon pool.
Sitting in the shade and having a clear view of the elephants playing in their new habitat is tranquil.
"They jump into a pool and they're like ‘Rah,' they feel so relieved and so excited about that," Bumpus says.
Renee Bumpus is a conservationist at the Houston Zoo.
"The pool is key because they feel a weightlessness in there that really just kind of blows their mind," Bumpus said.
Martina Stevens manages the elephants.
She says the extension of the exhibit was necessary.
"We knew a couple of years ago with three growing bull elephants that we needed to expand the facility to house our bulls, and we increased our foot print for these guys to about 3 and half acres overall," Stevens says.
On top of the 160,000 gallon pool, the project added new barns, and large enrichment trees.
The trees are made of concrete to with stand the roughness of the animals while also acting as hay feeders.
The new addition opens to the public May 26.