Teaching behavior is responsive and costly in fairy-wrens though the time course needs to be defined

By definition, teaching is both cooperative and costly and so we appreciate Cordony’s (2017) commentary in this spirit. We also agree that the cost of teaching in the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) system can and should be more fully explored. Kleindorfer, Hoi, et al. (2014) quantified a cost of incubation calling (Colombelli-Négrel et al. 2012) to fairy-wren mothers through the detection of higher egg predation at nests with more incubation calls. The commentary raises 2 main concerns: that 1) Kleindorfer, Hoi, et al. (2014) misinterpreted the operational definition of cost in animal teaching by Caro and Hauser (1992) and its operational interpretation by Thornton and Raihani (2010), because 2) nest predation is neither an immediate nor a personal cost to the mother.