Meet Cosmo the female African Grey Parrot who talks, responds, and tells jokes. By age six she had learned more than two hundred different phrases and become an adorable feathery person who awakens us to the potential intelligence of all other non-human residents of the earth.

“Telephone for bird!” was Cosmo’s first joke. Before she could talk, when the phone would ring, I would shout “Telephone!” for her benefit and then pick up the receiver. After she found out that I was B’Jean, she would joyfully announce “Telephone for B’Jean” at the top of her little lungs when the phone would ring or when she’d mimic the phone’s ring—“Rrrring!” To my surprise one day, after sounding the rrrring from atop her cage in my bedroom, she shouted, “Telephone for bird!” I broke up laughing. Then she imitated me: “Hahahahaha!” And I couldn’t stop laughing. There we were, a bird and a human, laughing hilariously together! What a moment. You can imagine how often thereafter she crowed “Telephone for bird! Hahahahahaha!”

Written by Betty Jean Craige with contributions from Irene Maxine Pepperberg.  Hardcover 127 pages.