Mammoths and the Ice Age giants: sabre-tooths, ground sloths and woolly rhinos

Tests: 3 of 11 right · Exam: 2 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 10 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 272 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 ✗

«Ice Age cartoon: mammoth, sabre-tooth and sloth best mates» What is true?

1. All three were real Ice Age animals, but they did not make friends or talk — ✓ the right answer · score 0
2. They were all kinds of elephant, so they were family and got on well — no support
3. None of them were real; they were all made up for the cartoon film — ← Mova's choice · score 5
4. They all really lived together with the dinosaurs, long before the Ice Age — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 5, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 92, line 5: «Cartoons borrow a few true features, like Patrick's five arms in SpongeBob, and invent the rest, so a good scientist checks which parts are real.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «invent» (+3); the same doer «cartoons» (+3). Against it: a different thing acted on (counts against) (-1). The right option, 1, scored 0. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · wrong ✗

«the mammoths all died with the dinos, right» What is right?

1. Yes, they all died 66 million years ago with T. rex — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. No, they are still alive in the far north of Canada — no support
3. No, the last mammoths lived about 4,000 years ago — ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. Yes, because mammoths were dinosaurs with fur — score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 130, line 12: «Most woolly mammoths died out about 10,000 years ago, but a small group lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until about 4,000 years ago, when the Egypt…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «die out» (+3); the same doer «most woolly mammoths» (+3); the same property (+3). The right option, 3, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Count them: a cave painting shows 3 woolly mammoths and 2 woolly rhinos. How many trunks, tails and front horns in all?

1. 3 trunks, 5 tails and 5 front horns — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 3 trunks, 3 tails and 3 front horns — no support
3. 3 trunks, 5 tails and 2 front horns — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. 5 trunks, 5 tails and 2 front horns — 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 ✗

What would happen if a deer walked into a tar pit at La Brea?

1. It would float on top of the tar and simply walk out the other side — score 3
2. The tar would wash it clean and it would run off shining — score 3
3. It would get stuck, and hunters coming for it might get stuck too — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. It would turn into stone at once and stand there like a statue — ← Mova's choice · score 9

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 9, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 272, line 15: «The cave bear was bigger than a brown bear and mostly ate plants; the giant deer called the Irish elk had antlers about 3.5 metres across, grown new each year,…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «grow» (+6); the same doer «giant deer» (+3). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · right ✓

In the cartoon the ground sloth is small and silly. What was Megatherium really like?

1. A sloth that lived in the sea and swam after fish — score 5
2. A meat-eater with long sharp fangs that hunted deer — no support
3. Small enough to sit on your lap and sleep all day — no support
4. As big as an elephant, standing up to reach leaves — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 131, line 9: «Some ground sloths were enormous: Megatherium was as big as an elephant, stood on its back legs to reach leaves and walked on the sides of its clawed feet.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «stand» (+4); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

«Irish elk, so it was an Irish elk then, obviously» What is true?

1. It was a giant deer, not an elk and not only Irish — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It was a kind of horse — no support
3. Yes, a true elk that lived only in Ireland and nowhere else — ← Mova's choice · score 1
4. It was a kind of moose with no antlers — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 179, line 13: «Cave animals are cut off from each other, so many caves have kinds found nowhere else, and tiny animals live two kilometres down in Krubera Cave in Georgia.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «kinds» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-3). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · wrong ✗

Why could scientists find milk inside baby Lyuba after thousands of years?

1. Permafrost froze her quickly and kept her like a freezer — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Milk never goes bad, however long it is kept — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. Someone found her and fed her milk later on — score 8
4. She was found inside an old fridge in a hut — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). 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 210, line 10: «A sow, a mother pig, can have a litter of a dozen piglets or more born together; each piglet picks a teat to suck milk from and keeps it, and piglets know thei…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «keep» (+4); the same thing acted on «milk» (+4). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · wrong ✗

«mammoth bone houses?? no way» Is that real?

1. No, it is only in cartoons and films, never in real life — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, Ice Age people in Ukraine built huts from mammoth bones — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Yes, but they were really dinosaur bones, not mammoth bones — no support
4. No, people at that time lived only in trees — 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 ✓

A huge armadillo shell is found in Argentina. Who might have used it as a shelter?

1. The very last dinosaurs — score 5
2. Nobody could ever have — no support
3. Early people in South America — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. Sabre-toothed cats — no support

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 272, line 13: «Glyptodon was an armadillo relative with a shell as big as a small car, a plant-eater; early people in South America may have used empty shells as shelters.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+2); the same thing acted on «empty shells» (+2); the same property (+2); the same circumstance (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · right ✓

«where did all the giant animals go» What is the best short answer?

1. They are all still hiding in the deepest forests, waiting — score 3
2. They all left the land on a big ship long ago — score 1
3. They all turned into small animals overnight — score 3
4. Many vanished after people arrived, as the climate also changed — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask where. It chose option 4 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 272, line 5: «Almost everywhere people arrived, the giants vanished within a few thousand years, while the climate was also changing; elephants, rhinos and hippos in Africa…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «change» (+4); the same doer «climate» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · wrong ✗

Which big animals of today are survivors of the age of giants?

1. Goldfish and frogs — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Elephants, rhinos and hippos — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Cats, dogs and rabbits — no support
4. Sparrows, pigeons and crows — 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 1 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal adaptations of the woolly mammoth to a cold climate.

1. Webbed feet for swimming beneath the ice of frozen lakes — no support
2. Large ears and bare skin, which shed heat to prevent overheating — score 3
3. A shell of bony plates which kept out the wind and the snow — no support
4. Small ears and a dense coat of hair, which retained bodily heat — ← 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 272, line 2: «Woolly mammoths were a bit smaller than an African elephant, with long hair, small ears and curly tusks: small ears and thick fur keep heat in, just as a wooll…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «heat» (+3); the same action «keep» (+2); the same doer «small ears» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the extinction of the woolly mammoth.

1. It is attributed to the impact of an asteroid at the close of the last glacial period — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It is attributed to predation by the last surviving dinosaurs of the northern regions — no support
3. It is generally attributed to a warming climate in combination with human hunting — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The species is understood to survive at the present day in the remote north — 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 · right ✓

Ascertain the reason for which the La Brea tar pits contain a disproportionate number of carnivores.

1. Predators attracted to trapped animals became trapped in turn — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Herbivore bones dissolve completely in tar — no support
3. Herbivores were incapable of reaching the site owing to the surrounding cliffs — no support
4. The tar was preferred by carnivores as drinking water — 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 ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the animal popularly termed the Irish elk?

1. It was a horse of considerable size, so named for the shape of its long head — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. It was an elk lacking antlers, distinguished only by its great height — score 5
3. It was a giant deer bearing antlers of some three and a half metres, found well beyond Ireland — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. It was a true elk confined entirely to Ireland, where it was hunted to extinction by farmers — score 5

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 228, line 4: «Behind almost every cartoon animal there is a real animal that is just as interesting, and a scientist's job is to sort the true bits from the funny bits.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «real animal» (+4); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «real animal» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

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