Animal minds: elephants' memory, feelings and the mouse myth

Tests: 6 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 10 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 236 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 · ★★ · right ✓

A cartoon elephant leaps onto a chair, screaming at a mouse. What would a real elephant probably do?

1. Faint at once — no support
2. Climb a tree — no support
3. Run for miles across the plain, trumpeting in terror and never come back — no support
4. Maybe step around it or be briefly startled, as by anything sudden — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 12, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 149, line 2: «There is no good evidence that elephants fear mice in particular. Elephants see poorly and can be startled by anything small that darts suddenly near their fee…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «elephants» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «startle» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«elephant painted a flower at the zoo, so it's an artist innit» What is more accurate?

1. Yes, elephants paint in the wild — no support
2. Elephants paint flowers to send messages to other elephants far away — ← Mova's choice · score 6
3. Elephants paint better than people — score 6
4. It was trained and guided, and the show is mostly for tourists — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, tied with another option at 6 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 149, line 12: «Elephants investigate new things carefully with their trunks and can smell water several kilometres away.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «elephants» (+4); the same property (+4). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if the matriarch of a herd were killed by poachers before a drought?

1. The calves would lead better — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The herd might not know where the old water holes are — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The herd would get faster — no support
4. Nothing, because every elephant in the herd already knows the way — 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 4 · ★★ · right ✓

Farmers play a recording of buzzing bees near a field. What will the elephants probably do?

1. Fall asleep to the humming — no support
2. Start trumpeting a song back — no support
3. Come closer to eat the honey — no support
4. Walk away from the sound — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 10, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 149, line 8: «Elephants really avoid bees: at the buzz of an angry swarm they shake their heads, walk away and warn each other with a special rumble.», 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 action «walk away» (+3); the same property (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓

«a whale's brain is massive, so a whale must be cleverer than me» What is wrong?

1. Whales have no brains — score 6
2. Nothing, bigger brains always win — no support
3. A big body needs a big brain, so size alone does not prove cleverness — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Only small brains are clever — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 236, line 16: «An elephant brain weighs about 5 kilograms, the largest of any land animal, but a big body needs a big brain, so size alone does not show cleverness.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «big body» (+4); the same action «need» (+3); the same thing acted on «big brain» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

A woman and a man from a group that sometimes hunts elephants talk near a herd in Kenya. Whose voice makes them nervous?

1. The man's — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. The woman's — score 4
3. Both equally — score 4
4. Neither of them — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 155, line 17: «Kingfishers plunge in beak first, and Japan's bullet train was given a kingfisher-shaped nose to make it quieter.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «make» (+2); the same thing acted on «nose» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«elephants never forget, so my nan's elephant from the circus still remembers her» What is the best answer?

1. Only if she fed it peanuts every single day when it was in the circus — no support
2. Elephants have very good but not perfect memories, so maybe — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Yes, elephants remember everything forever — ← Mova's choice · score 9
4. No, elephants forget in a day — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 22, line 15: «Elephants remember routes to far-away water and food for many years, and herds with older matriarchs survive droughts better.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «remember» (+5); the same doer «elephants» (+3); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: a mother elephant and her 2 calves walk by. How many legs and how many trunks?

1. 8 legs and 3 trunks — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 12 legs and 1 trunk — no support
3. 12 legs and 3 trunks — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. 16 legs and 3 trunks — 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 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Count them: 4 elephants and 3 people stand by a water hole. How many ears?

1. 8 ears — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 7 ears — no support
3. 16 ears — no support
4. 14 ears — ✓ 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 10 · ★★ · right ✓

A zoo elephant cannot reach fruit on a high branch. A box lies nearby. What did one zoo elephant do?

1. Gave up and slept — no support
2. Threw the box at the tree until all the fruit came down — score 12
3. Waited for the fruit to fall — score 5
4. Pushed the box under the branch and stood on it — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 17

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 17, against 12 for the next best. Its support: lesson 236, line 11: «Elephants use branches to swat flies and scratch, and a zoo elephant pushed a box under a branch and stood on it to reach fruit.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «zoo elephant» (+5); it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «push» (+3); the same thing acted on «box» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · right ✓

A herd passes the bones of a buffalo and then the bones of an elephant. Where will it probably stop longest?

1. It will run away from both — score 0
2. At neither, it walks past both — score 4
3. At the elephant bones — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. At the buffalo bones first — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 3 with score 5, tied with another option at 5 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 207, line 2: «Its eyes sit on the sides of its head so it can see nearly all the way round, and when one horse in a field suddenly bolts, the whole herd thunders after it wi…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «stop» (+4); the same doer «whole herd» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the alleged fear of mice exhibited by elephants?

1. It is confined to elephants kept in circuses — score 3
2. No sound evidence supports it, an elephant being startled by any sudden movement near its feet — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
3. It arises from the habit of mice of entering the trunk — no support
4. It is universally observed in all elephants — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 12, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 83, line 6: «Elephants are not afraid of mice; they cannot see well right by their feet, so a sudden movement there can startle them, but terror is a cartoon joke.», 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 (+5); the same doer «sudden movement» (+4); the same thing acted on «elephants» (+3). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal reason for which elephant herds led by elder matriarchs exhibited superior survival during a drought in Tanzania.

1. The elder matriarchs required less water — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The herds were provisioned with water and food by human beings throughout the drought — no support
3. The herds were of greater size — no support
4. The matriarchs retained a memory of an earlier drought and of sources of water — ✓ 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

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Ascertain the purpose for which beehives are suspended upon fences by farmers in Kenya.

1. The capture of elephants — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The warming of the bees — no support
3. The provision of honey to elephants in exchange for their departure — no support
4. The deterrence of elephants from the consumption of crops — ✓ 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

Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the behaviour of elephants towards the remains of deceased elephants.

1. They bury every bone they encounter, whether of their own kind or of any other species whatsoever — no support
2. They touch the bones gently and attend to them more than to the bones of other species — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 0
3. They consume the bones — no support
4. They avoid all bones without distinction — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 0, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 219, line 3: «Its wings are covered with thousands of tiny scales, like the tiles on a roof, and those scales are the powder that comes off on your fingers if you touch one.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «touch» (+3); the same thing acted on «one» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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