Denver Zoo's new elephant exhibit, Asian Tropics, is halfway finished (PHOTOS)

Those steps lead into one of the exhibit's "elephant hot tubs," essentially a heated pool. Asian Tropics is full of pools and canals deep enough for the animals to submerge in; in all, it will contain 1.1 million gallons of water. Of that, 900,000 gallons will be recycled.

Here, Pond stands in front of the Koelbel Family Foundation Elephant House Parlor, which is connected to the Clayton F. Freiheit Elephant House. Visitors will be able to view the elephants in the horseshoe-shaped parlor. The elephants will sleep in eight stalls that ring the outside of the parlor. In between the parlor and the stalls are two walkways: one for trainers and one for elephants. There will also be two catwalks for trainers above the stalls, as well as a keepers' house out back. In that house will be a so-called elephant traffic control room, in which a staff member will keep track of which elephants are where.

More from our Things to Do archive: "Bear sex? Horny elephants? Inside Denver Zoo's Singles Safari."