Echolocation: how bats see with sound

Tests: 2 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 11 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 229 of the biology course of Mova's primary school, as Mova's small model took its tests: it had read this lesson and the ones before it and learned from their exercises. Each test shows the options in the order the student saw them, its choice, the right answer, the score of every option and why it chose. The lesson itself, sentence by sentence with trees and pragmatics: the lesson in the corpora.

Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: the lesson's questions in the corpora.

Test 1 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«blind as a bat, my nan says, about my grandad lol» What is wrong with the saying?

1. Bats are blind, but grandads are not — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. No bat is blind; bats see, and many also use echoes — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Nothing, it is right, because bats have no eyes at all — no support
4. Bats are blind only in winter — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

A cartoon vampire turns into a big bat and bites people's necks. What is the real vampire bat like?

1. It lives only in old castles in Transylvania and nowhere else — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. Huge, and drinks people's blood every night — score 3
3. It eats garlic — score 6
4. Tiny, and mostly drinks a little blood from sleeping animals — ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 186, line 3: «At the other end, a bat smaller than your thumb, a hummingbird hardly bigger than a bee and a frog that sits on a fingernail all live on the edge, because tiny…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «live» (+4); the same doer «bat» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if a hunting bat suddenly could not hear?

1. It would fly higher and faster — score 3
2. It would hunt better by smell — ← Mova's choice · score 7
3. Nothing, because bats hunt only with their eyes, like owls do — score 7
4. It would bump into things and miss insects in the dark — ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 14, line 13: «Small bats like pipistrelles hunt insects around street lamps by echolocation, shouting and listening for echoes; bats are not blind, and one pipistrelle can e…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hunt» (+4); the same doer «small bats» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«the detector's crackling like popcorn, then it goes brrrrr» What just happened?

1. A moth sang a song — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. A bat fell asleep in the middle of the air and dropped to the ground — no support
3. The detector is broken — no support
4. A bat called faster and faster and probably caught an insect — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · wrong ✗

At a zoo dark house, children walk with eyes shut and bump into the walls, while the bats fly freely. Why?

1. Bats can see straight through walls with special eyes — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. Bats have much bigger eyes than children do — no support
3. The children's ears are blocked — no support
4. Bats' brains turn echoes into a picture of the world — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 229, line 8: «No bat is blind: small bats see quite well in dim light, and big fruit bats called flying foxes find fruit by sight and smell and mostly do not echolocate.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+4); the same doer «small bats» (+1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«why'd it take 150 years to figure out the bat thing» What is the best answer?

1. Scientists did not care about bats — no support
2. Nobody could hear the sound until special microphones came in 1938 — ✓ the right answer · score 1
3. Bats hid from scientists — no support
4. Bats only started using their echoes in 1938, so before that there was nothing to hear — ← Mova's choice · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 3, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 15, line 11: «Bearded capuchins in Brazil crack hard palm nuts on a flat rock with a heavy stone, and the young take years to learn it by watching older monkeys.», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «learn» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Why can't a bat just jump off the ground and fly away like a pigeon?

1. Bats never touch the ground in their lives — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. Bats are too heavy to fly — score 1
3. Its wings are not strong enough for an easy take-off, so it drops from a perch — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Bats can fly only at night, and the ground is always too cold to take off from — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 138, line 8: «Pigs walk on four legs, on the tips of two hoofed toes on each foot, with two smaller toes higher up that touch the ground only in soft mud and stop the pig si…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «ground» (+2); the same action «touch» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

The flying bats from Bracken Cave show up on weather radar. What does the radar seem to see?

1. A big aeroplane flying very low — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Snow falling softly from the sky — no support
3. Something like a rain cloud — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nothing at all on the screen — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · right ✓

«there's a bat in our loft, dad wants to smoke it out» What is the best advice?

1. Catch it with your bare hands — score 2
2. Smoke it out quickly — no support
3. Block the hole while it sleeps inside so that no more bats can come in — no support
4. Leave it and ask a bat group, as bats and roosts are protected in Britain — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 229, line 17: «Bat boxes give bats safe places to sleep as old hollow trees and barns disappear, and in Britain bats and their roosts are protected by law.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «bats» (+5); the same action «protect» (+2); the same place «britain» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: 6 bats hang in a row from a branch. Each bat holds on with both feet. How many feet hold the branch, and how many wings are folded?

1. 6 feet and 6 wings — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. 24 feet and 12 wings — score 7
3. 12 feet and 12 wings — ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. 12 feet and 24 wings — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 105, line 12: «The soles of a polar bear's paws have fur and small bumps that grip the ice and keep the feet warm.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «keep» (+4); a different doer (counts against) (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). The right option, 3, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓

Some moths have fluffy wing scales. How could that help them?

1. The fluff soaks up sound, so the bat hears less echo — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
2. The fluff makes them fly much faster — score 7
3. The fluff tickles the bat's nose so that it sneezes and lets go — no support
4. The fluff makes them glow — score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what something is like. It chose option 1 with score 12, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 229, line 10: «Some tiger moths click back at bats to jam their echoes or warn that they taste nasty, and some moths can hear bats and dive away; the fluffy scales on some mo…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hear» (+4); the same doer «bat» (+3); the same thing acted on «less echo» (+3); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the method by which an insectivorous bat locates its prey in darkness?

1. It relies solely upon the perception of light — no support
2. It is guided by the scent of nectar — no support
3. It detects the warmth of its prey by means of sensitive organs situated in its wings — ← Mova's choice · score 9
4. It emits calls of high frequency and interprets the returning echoes — ✓ the right answer · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 9, tied with another option at 9 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 226, line 14: «If a bat flies into a house, open the windows wide, turn off the lights and leave the room; the bat usually finds its own way out, and it should not be touched…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «bat» (+3); the same action «find» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 9. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the finding of Lazzaro Spallanzani in respect of bats flying amongst suspended threads.

1. Bats avoided the threads by smell alone, irrespective of the condition of their eyes or ears — score 2
2. Bats deprived of sight invariably collided with the threads — score 2
3. Bats deprived of hearing collided with the threads, whereas those deprived of sight did not — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Bats were incapable of flight in any enclosed room — ← Mova's choice · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 153, line 11: «Bats take off by letting go and dropping into flight, because their legs are too small and light to jump up from the ground like a bird.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «bats» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the vampire bat.

1. It inhabits only the castles of Europe — score 4
2. It is of great size and feeds principally upon human blood — score 4
3. It feeds exclusively upon fruit, which it locates by means of its keen sense of smell at night — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. It is small and feeds chiefly upon the blood of sleeping animals such as cattle and birds — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 153, line 15: «Some bats feed on fruit and nectar and, like bees, carry pollen between flowers and spread seeds; the wild ancestors of bananas and the agave are pollinated by…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «feed» (+2); the same doer «bats» (+2); the same circumstance (+2). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the term by which the rapid succession of calls emitted by a bat immediately prior to the capture of an insect is designated.

1. The birds' dawn chorus — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The bee's waggle dance — no support
3. The feeding buzz — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The signature whistle — no support

Why: No option found support in what it remembers, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/229-echolocation-how-bats-see-with-sound/