I have a pet church griffin— which is what you might get if a Maine coon cat and a raven loved each other very much and made some flight-capable monotreme babies. [ Griffins aren't any weirder than a platypus or an echidna in Alex's mind. Just a different kind of weird. ] Crow's a little smarter than the average corvid bird, which might put him ahead of some people. Had to put a lock on the rat fridge at work after he raided it a few times.