Defences: poison, warning colours and mimics
Tests: 7 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 9 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 247 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 a cartoon a witch says touching a toad gives you warts. What is right?
- 1. It is true, but only on Fridays — no support
- 2. Warts come from a human virus, but wash your hands after holding a toad — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
- 3. It is true, toads give you warts at once, wherever they touch your skin — score 5
- 4. Warts come from frogs but never from toads — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 10, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 247, line 13: «You do not get warts from touching a toad, because warts come from a human virus, but toads have bumpy glands with bad-tasting stuff, so wash your hands after…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «come» (+4); the same place «human virus» (+4); the same doer «warts» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · wrong ✗
«argh a wasp on my ice cream!! oh wait it's just hovering still» What could it be?
- 1. A baby wasp that cannot sting — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. A moth in the sunshine — no support
- 3. A bee pretending to be a wasp — no support
- 4. A harmless hoverfly in wasp colours — ✓ 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 3 · wrong ✗
«3 wasps and 2 hoverflies on the jam jar. how many wings, go»
- 1. 10 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 16 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. 12 — no support
- 4. 20 — 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 · wrong ✗
«5 ladybirds on my arm. legs?»
- 1. 25 — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. 40 — no support
- 3. 30 — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. 20 — 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 · right ✓
«my mate says the more spots a ladybird's got the older it is, it's got 7 so it's 7» What is right?
- 1. Yes, one spot for each year, so a big spotty one is very old — no support
- 2. No, spots show how many babies it has — score 6
- 3. Yes, one spot for each month — no support
- 4. No, the spots show the kind of ladybird, not its age — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 48, line 14: «A ladybird's spots show its kind, not its age: a seven-spot ladybird always has about 7 spots, and the bright colours warn birds that it tastes bad.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «show» (+3); the same thing acted on «kind» (+3); the same doer «spots» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 6 · right ✓
What would happen if you fed a zoo poison frog only crickets for its whole life?
- 1. It would stop eating — score 3
- 2. It would not become poisonous — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
- 3. It would become twice as poisonous — score 5
- 4. It would turn green — score 3
Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 2 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 247, line 6: «Poison dart frogs have poison in their skin and bright colours that warn predators; in the wild they get the poison from ants and mites they eat, so zoo frogs…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «zoo frogs» (+3); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 7 · right ✓
«our dog bit a cane toad and he's drooling, he'll be grand» What is right?
- 1. Cane toad poison can make dogs very sick, so get a vet quickly — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
- 2. Toads are harmless to dogs — score 3
- 3. Drooling means the dog liked the taste and wants another one — score 6
- 4. Give the dog the rest of the toad — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 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 247, line 11: «Cane toads have poison glands behind their heads and can make dogs very sick; they were brought to Australia in 1935 to eat beetles in sugar cane fields, sprea…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «make» (+4); the same property (+3); the same thing acted on «dogs» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · right ✓
A young bird eats an orange and black butterfly and is sick. What will it probably do next time?
- 1. Eat two at once to get it over with — score 2
- 2. Avoid orange and black butterflies — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 9
- 3. Only eat them at night — score 9
- 4. Feed them to its chicks — score 6
Why: It took the question to ask what is done. 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 247, line 8: «Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed, keep its poison in their bodies, and birds that eat a monarch get sick and learn to avoid orange and black butterflies; the…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «orange butterflies» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «avoid» (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · wrong ✗
Why are danger signs and warning tape yellow and black?
- 1. Because those colours glow in the dark — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It was chosen by a coin toss — no support
- 3. They are the cheapest paints — no support
- 4. People copied nature's warning colours — ✓ 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 ✓
Scientists' fingers went numb after handling a bird in New Guinea. What had they found?
- 1. A bird coated all over in sticky glue from trees — no support
- 2. A poisonous bird, the hooded pitohui — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 3. A bird covered in ice — score 5
- 4. A bird with electric feathers — score 8
Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. 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 194, line 13: «Always ask the owner before stroking a dog, let it sniff your hand, and stroke its side or chest rather than reaching over its head, because a hand coming down…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «feel» (+6); the same doer «hand» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · right ✓
«that hedgehog chewed a toad and now he's frothing, is he mad» What is going on?
- 1. It is laughing at the toad — no support
- 2. It has rabies for sure — no support
- 3. It is self-anointing, spreading the frothy spit on its spines — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 14
- 4. It is blowing bubbles to call its friends over for a toad feast — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 14, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 247, line 16: «Hedgehogs sometimes chew bad-tasting things like toad skin and spread the frothy spit on their spines, called self-anointing, and nobody knows exactly why.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «spread» (+6); the same thing acted on «frothy spit» (+4); the same place «spines» (+2); a different doer (counts against) (+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 function of bright coloration in poisonous animals?
- 1. It provides concealment amongst foliage — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. It serves as a warning to predators that the animal is unpalatable or harmful — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. It serves exclusively to attract mates in darkness, the colours glowing at night — no support
- 4. It regulates the temperature of the body — 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 · wrong ✗
Identify the principal source from which wild poison dart frogs obtain their toxins.
- 1. The ants and mites which constitute their diet — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Their own production independent of diet — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 3. The water of the streams wherein they dwell — no support
- 4. Contact with poisonous plants upon which they rest — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 89, line 14: «Male frogs fill a vocal sac with air to make their calls louder, telling females where they are and what kind of frog they are.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «make» (+4); the same doer «male frogs» (+2). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the hoverfly.
- 1. It is equipped with a sting more potent than that of the wasp, and stings without warning — no support
- 2. It is a juvenile form of the wasp — no support
- 3. It possesses four wings in the manner of the wasp — score 3
- 4. It is harmless, its resemblance to the wasp constituting an instance of mimicry — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 247, line 12: «The hoverfly is harmless but has wasp-like yellow and black stripes, which is mimicry; hoverflies can hover still in the air and have two wings, while wasps ha…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+3); the same doer «hoverfly» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Ascertain the reason for which cane toads were introduced into Australia in 1935.
- 1. The supply of pets to households — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The control of beetles in the sugar cane fields — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 3. The provision of food for the population — no support
- 4. The purification of rivers — 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/247-defences-poison-warning-colours-and-mimics/