Pied Babbler

Pied babblers demonstrate teaching behavior remarkably parallel to meerkat scorpion training. Adults teach fledglings to associate a specific call—the 'purr call'—with food provisioning. Initially, adults give purr calls while directly feeding nestlings. As fledglings mature, adults give purr calls from increasing distances, requiring fledglings to approach before receiving food. This graduated training scaffolds independent foraging.

The purr call teaching meets strict criteria for active instruction. Adults modify their behavior in the presence of naive individuals (giving more purr calls), incur costs (delayed feeding while waiting for approach), and produce improved performance in learners. Control experiments show fledglings trained with consistent purr calls become independent foragers faster than those without.

Begging call honesty depends on context. Fledglings produce begging calls that indicate hunger level, and adults use these signals to allocate food. But the honesty of begging depends on audience composition. When siblings compete, begging escalates. When only one fledgling is present, begging more accurately reflects need. Context shapes signal honesty.

Sentinel behavior protects the teaching investment. Like meerkats, pied babblers post sentinels who watch for predators while others forage or feed young. The sentinel system ensures that teaching interactions can proceed without constant predator vigilance by the teacher.

For organizations, pied babblers show that formal teaching protocols—consistent signals, graduated difficulty, explicit feedback—accelerate skill acquisition compared to unstructured learning.