On a cool, rainy afternoon, inside Philadelphia's Wachovia Center, children and parents crowd the cavernous hall trying to get a closer look at Asia, the elephant who paints with her trunk. Asia is a star of the "three-ring adventure" in the 133rd edition of the Rin-gling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey circus, the largest and oldest in the U.S. As families mill about they see posters describing Ringling's efforts to protect endangered Asian elephants. The tagline reads: "Endangered species? Not if we can help it." Two hours later, the show wraps up, having featured elephants (including "five parallel pachyderms" that raise their hind legs on stools), tigers, zebras, horses, llamas, dogs and a few goats. The ringmaster thanks people for coming and "helping to support the world's endangered species."
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