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Year of the Gorilla

To raise awareness of this charismatic primate, zoos around the world have joined together for the Year of the Gorilla. IZE member zoos have also joined in the celebration, teaching others what they can do to help primates worldwide.

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom celebrated the Year of the Gorilla with a day long celebration highlighting gorilla conservation, research and excellence in animal care. Activities included an almost life-size gorilla, where young guests could compare their size to that of an adult gorilla. Videos and a "training game" showed the ways gorillas participate in their own health care, which ranges from presenting different areas of their body for a daily exam to participating in cardiac ultrasounds that measure the long-term health of each gorilla. Guests left the celebration with ideas on how to help gorillas, such as recycling cell phones, choosing sustainable products and supporting ecotourism.

Zoos Victoria

In Australia alone, more than 9 million mobile phones were sold in the last 12 months. This coupled with the fact that the average Australian typically upgrades their phones every 18 to 24 months results in millions of mobile phones being dumped into our landfill each year. To compound the issue, a metallic ore, columbite tantalite or coltan, is required for the capacitors of many small, electronic devices, including phones.

80% of the world’s coltan reserves are located within the Democratic Republic of Congo. The mining of this commodity within the Democratic Republic of Congo is contributing to forest loss and unrest in the region. Consequently, the world’s reliance on coltan is driving primates such as gorillas and chimpanzees towards extinction. The mining of coltan is destroying what remains of suitable mountain gorilla habitat. As the forest is destroyed for mining, roads are carved to make way for increased traffic through the area. The protection once offered by the habitat in its pristine state is no longer able to shelter gorillas from poachers, leaving these precious primates exposed to the bushmeat crisis.

In 2008, Zoos Victoria partnered with the Australian Recycling Program (ARP) and the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) to raise awareness of the coltan mining issue and its implications for Melbourne Zoo’s ambassador species, the gorilla, creating the campaign, "They're Calling on You." This is the only mobile phone recycling program within Australia to provide people with the opportunity to contribute to primate conservation simply by donating used mobile phones.

View the flyer and information as a PDF.