SHEBBEAR’S Lower Sixth Biologists took their annual pilgrimage to Paignton Zoo recently to discover the role zoos play in conservation.

There was a fascinating talk on the mining of columbite-tantalite or ‘Coltan’ in the Congo. The tantalum extracted is essential for mobile devices but has a serious effect on the gorilla population in the area.

After the discussion they looked at the conservation work carried out by the zoo.

There was an interesting discussion of the ethics of keeping individual members of a species in captivity for the benefit of the species as a whole.