In Year of the Gorilla Taronga Zoo has been helping these gentle giants of the jungle with a campaign called “They’re calling on you”. This campaign helps people recycle any of those old mobile phones you have in your drawers at home or just lying around. By donating your old phone you can help not only Taronga’s magnificent male gorilla, Kibabu and his family as well as his relatives in the wild by reducing the need to mine in their environment. The mining is for a rare mineral called coltan. Now I hear you ask what is Coltan? Coltan is short for Columbite Tantalum which is a mineral that is in huge demand in today’s technology like our DVD players, videos and our mobile phones. But we can make a difference. By recycling your phone you will stop your phone being used as landfill, help raise money for the Taronga Foundation and Jane Goodall institute’s conservation programs in Africa and reduce the demand for coltan mining by recycling the coltan coated capacitor in your phone. So next time you are at the zoo go to our Gorilla or Chimpanzee talks and pick up one our bags to recycle your old phone. You can even have a chat to one of our keepers about other ways you can help make a difference. Since the campaign has started this year we have had great response with hundreds of phones being returned from the public using the free postage-paid recycling bags. So the next time your mobile phone rings it could be the gorillas calling on you. - Lisa