Team players and partners: meerkats, naked mole rats, huddles, cleaners (and do lemmings jump?)

Tests: 2 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 241 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 ✓

In The Lion King a meerkat lives with a warthog and sings. What is a real meerkat's life like?

1. It never meets other meerkats and digs on its own — no support
2. It lives in a big group led by a female, with guards and teachers — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
3. It lives in a pair with a lion — score 5
4. It lives alone in the jungle with a warthog friend and a lion cub, singing songs — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 10, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 125, line 7: «Meerkats live in groups called mobs or gangs of up to about 50, and a meerkat alone could not keep watch and feed at the same time.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «groups» (+7); the same action «live» (+5). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · wrong ✗

«my mate reckons lemmings jump off cliffs coz there's too many of them, that's a fact innit» What is right?

1. No, it is a myth from a film where lemmings were pushed — ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. Yes, they jump off cliffs every year to make room for the others — ← Mova's choice · score 9
3. Yes, but only in Norway — no support
4. No, lemmings jump into rivers instead of off cliffs — score 9

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 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 168, line 8: «Lemmings do not jump off cliffs on purpose to die; their numbers rise and fall in cycles, and when crowded they spread out and some drown crossing water.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «jump off» (+4); the same doer «lemmings» (+4); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2); the same thing acted on «cliffs» (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-2). The right option, 1, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

«7 meerkats on the rock, how many legs is that»

1. 14 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 28 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 21 — no support
4. 35 — no support

Why: It could not read the question into a frame, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · wrong ✗

«12 penguins in a huddle, 2 more join. how many legs, quick»

1. 56 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 24 — no support
3. 14 — no support
4. 28 — ✓ 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 ✗

«4 meerkats, 1 warthog. how many tails»

1. 8 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 5 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 1 — no support
4. 4 — 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 6 · wrong ✗

What would happen if no meerkat stood guard?

1. The scorpions would protect them — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. They would dig faster without stopping and be quite safe — no support
3. An eagle could catch them while they dig with heads down — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Nothing, because eagles and jackals never hunt meerkats at all — 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 7 · right ✓

«why the hell is that bird sat on a buffalo, piss off bird» What is it doing?

1. Eating ticks and flies, and sometimes drinking blood from wounds — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
2. Laying its eggs safely in the thick warm fur along the buffalo's back — score 8
3. Waiting for the buffalo to die — no support
4. Steering the buffalo like a rider on a horse — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 241, line 4: «Other teams are made of two different kinds of animal: a little cleaner fish picks parasites off a big fish, and a bird rides a buffalo eating its ticks; both…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «eat» (+5); the same thing acted on «ticks» (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

«ugh that pink wrinkly rat thing is gross, prob dies young» What is true?

1. No, naked mole rats can live over 30 years and rarely get cancer — ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. Yes, they die very quickly if they ever see daylight — score 1
3. Yes, they live only a few weeks, just as most other small rodents do — no support
4. No, they often live for about 300 years, longer than tortoises — ← Mova's choice · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 206, line 9: «Big parrots can live over sixty years, and some are passed on in their owners' wills, the papers that say who gets a person's things after they die.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «live» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

A big fish on a reef waits with its mouth open while a tiny fish swims inside. Why doesn't it swallow the tiny fish?

1. It has no teeth — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. The tiny fish cleans it, so both gain — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. It is not hungry at that moment — score 2
4. The tiny fish is poisonous — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 27, line 10: «A bottlenose dolphin has around 80 to 100 cone-shaped teeth, gets only one set for life, and swallows fish whole.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+3); the same doer «bottlenose dolphin» (+2); the same thing acted on «80 shaped teeth» (+2). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · wrong ✗

A naked mole rat baby is moved to a new colony. What happens to its chirps?

1. It keeps its old dialect and is attacked — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. It teaches its dialect to the queen — score 5
3. It learns the new colony's dialect — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. It stops chirping for the rest of its life — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 3, line 8: «Leafcutter ants do not eat the leaves they carry; they chew them into a mulch to grow a fungus garden, and the fungus feeds a colony that can hold several mill…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «hold» (+4); the same doer «colony» (+4). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

«a tall bloke in a blue shirt walked past the prairie dogs, then a short one in yellow. same squeak, right?»

1. Yes, prairie dogs have only one squeak, the same for any danger at all — score 6
2. Yes, they cannot see colours — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. No, experiments suggest the calls change with size and colour — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. No, they only squeak when they see dogs — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 8, tied with another option at 8 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 195, line 15: «A dog does not understand sentences the way we do, so everyone in the family should use the same short word for each command, or the dog gets confused.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «understand» (+4); the same doer «dog» (+4). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · 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 conduct of a meerkat sentinel?

1. It consumes the food gathered by its companions while they are distracted — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It maintains watch for predators while its companions forage, issuing distinct alarm calls — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. It forages alone and avoids the group entirely — no support
4. It remains permanently in that office throughout its whole life, never digging — 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 2 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal reason for which emperor penguins assemble in dense huddles during the Antarctic winter.

1. The concealment of the eggs from hungry seals and from the mothers — no support
2. The selection of a leader for the colony — no support
3. The facilitation of feeding upon fish beneath the ice — no support
4. The conservation of warmth, each bird taking its turn at the exposed margin — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 241, line 13: «Male emperor penguins huddle in thousands, each with an egg on his feet under a warm fold of belly skin, taking turns at the cold edge; inside the huddle it ca…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «take» (+4); the same thing acted on «turns» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · 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 alleged mass suicide of lemmings.

1. It occurs solely when food is abundant — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It is a well-documented annual occurrence, recorded each spring by naturalists in Norway and Sweden — no support
3. It has been observed exclusively in captivity, never in the wild — no support
4. The notion is a myth, disseminated by a film in which the animals were deliberately propelled — ✓ 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 · wrong ✗

Ascertain the benefit derived by each party in the association between the cleaner wrasse and its larger client fish.

1. Only the client benefits, the cleaner receiving nothing for its labours — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Only the cleaner benefits, the client being harmed by its sharp little bites — no support
3. Neither party derives any advantage whatsoever — no support
4. The client is freed of parasites, whereas the cleaner obtains nourishment — ✓ 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

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/241-team-players-and-partners-meerkats-naked-mole-rats-huddles-cleaners-and-lemmings/