Zoo collecting cell phones … for gorillas

ASHEBORO — The North Carolina Zoo is asking people to donate old cell phones, tablets or music players such as iPods to help gorillas around the world. The initiative, known as Gorillas on the Line … Answer the Call, is part of a worldwide project to protect gorilla habitats.

A key component to cell phone electronics is a metal called coltan. One of the few places it can be mined is in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the mining destroys habitats.

By Randolph Record