Special touch from Okapi

It was quite a novel gift idea last Christmas. The beautiful dried flowers arranged in wonderful ways. Twigs and sticks twisted just right to add a country look. Wreaths and frames to adorn the walls were just a few of the Okapi range stocked up in the World Trade Centre building.

Okapi consists of household decorations made with natural materials to maintain the beauty of nature. Most of the raw material is purchased locally through agents. The products are then sent to one of seven factories located in Katunayake, Ja-Ela, Wattala, Homagama and Kadawatha. Here, approximately 2,000 craftsmen work together to create the beauty of Okapi.

The workforce in these factories consists of people from various places. While a few of them have actually studied design professionally, most of them are talented with a creative flare. Others are trained by the management, ensuring success for Okapi.

Okapi, registered as a trade mark of Deldem Group (Pvt) Ltd., exports its products to over 50 countries worldwide. While its primary markets are Europe and the United States of America, the secondary markets are in the Middle East and Asia.

With a new range of products being put out every four months, Okapi is definitely a wonderful choice to beautify one's home.

No birdbrain!

Research finds parrots are as clever as dolphins and monkeys....

Parrots are as intelligent as monkeys and dolphins and a lot more talkative according to a scientific report published recently in France.

Irene Pepperberg argues, in an article for the French journal Pour La Science, that parrots can classify objects by type, form and colour, combine words, grasp abstract concepts and conduct meaningful conversations.

As proof of their intelligence, Dr. Pepperberg cites the case of English-speaking Alex, a garrulous 22-year-old grey parrot who may well be the brainiest bird in history.

Alex can identify and describe more than 100 objects, and when he gets into his conversational stride he hardly draws a breath.

"Every evening, when we leave the laboratory, Alex says to us: 'Good night, I'm going to dinner. See you tomorrow,' writes Dr. Pepperberg, of Arizona University. After two decades during which she has worked with Alex, he has shown that he understands human language.

"If communication is a sign of animal intelligence, Alex has demonstrated that parrots are as intelligent as the large monkeys and dolphins," she writes.

The parrot's ability to reclassify objects according to different criteria, such as colour or shape, and his understanding of the words similar and different, is evidence of a capacity for "abstract thought" hitherto believed to be limited to humans and certain primates.

Alex can group objects by colour, material (wood, stone and paper, for example) and shape (round, square, hexagonal and so on).

More intriguingly, he knows that an object may have more than one property and can thus be classified in different ways. In response to questions about shape, colour and material, Alex accurately classifies objects 80 per cent of the time.

Presented with two objects, the parrot can identify what properties they have in common. If they have none, he is dismissive, squawking "none" in an aggrieved tone.

The parrot can also count to six and subtract in his head. "When we present Alex with between two and six objects and ask him questions about the number of things with a given colour or form, his replies are 83.3 per cent correct; adult humans given a very short time to quantify a similar assembly of objects, get it right in roughly the same proportion," Dr. Pepperberg writes. At intelligence tests, Alex obtains results similar to those for large monkeys and dolphins, while his ability to identify the difference in size between objects also indicates an intelligence that goes well beyond the mere imitation of humans.

Parrots, in common with primates, form complex social groups in their native jungle habitats, which may explain their innate cognitive abilities.

Grey parrots can live to the age of 60 and, in the prime of his life, Alex's vocabulary, conceptual abilities and conversational skills are still growing.

"With every new word he learns, Alex confirms that parrots are capable of carrying out complex cognitive tasks," according to Dr. Pepperberg.

"His talents reflect the innate capacities of parrots and suggest that advanced forms of animal intelligence have yet to be discovered."

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