Conversations with Cosmo - At Home with an African Grey Parrot

'Bird brains' are brighter than we think! That's the inescapable conclusion you'll come to after reading betty Jean Craige's enchanting, mind-expanding memoir of her adventures with Cosmo, her African grey parrot.

A professor of comparitive literature, Craige brought Cosmo home to see if the bird (a female) could acquire language. By age six, Cosmo had indeed learned more than a hundred words, was uttering more than two hundred different phrases, making up her own phrases, imitating a large variety of nonverbal sounds (such as smoke alarms, telephones and wolf whistles) - and telling jokes!

But as so often happens, the teacher learned as much as the student. Craige discovered Cosmo's capacity not only for language but also for reasoning, voicing opinions, making choices, developing social skills, and giving and accepting love. She had become a 'feathery little person,' clever, affectionate, and exuberant. Today, Cosmo continues to learn - and to teach, comfort, surprise, and delight her human companion.