Crocodiles and alligators
Tests: 8 of 11 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 8 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72
Lesson 29 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 peter pan the croc swallows a clock and wants to chew up captain hook. what's wrong with that?
- 1. Real crocodiles can't chew; they tear off chunks and swallow them — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 10
- 2. Real crocodiles only eat clocks — score 4
- 3. Nothing, crocodiles chew like we do — score 8
- 4. Real crocodiles chew their food slowly with big flat back teeth, like cows — score 8
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 10, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 4: «In Peter Pan the crocodile swallows a ticking clock and chases Captain Hook for more; real crocodiles can't chew at all, so they spin over and over in the deat…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «chew» (+5); the same doer «real crocodiles» (+5). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 2 · right ✓
Count them: four crocodiles are basking on a bank. How many legs is that?
- 1. 16 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. 8 — no support
- 3. 20 — no support
- 4. 12 — 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 · right ✓
A friend says "she's crying crocodile tears". What does she mean?
- 1. She's pretending to be sad — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. She's really very sad — no support
- 3. She has an eye infection — no support
- 4. She's eating very fast — 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 ✗
Two tanks: one animal has a broad round snout and no lower teeth showing. Which is it?
- 1. It could be either — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Neither, it's a lizard — no support
- 3. The alligator — ✓ the right answer · no support
- 4. The crocodile — 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 ✗
What would happen to a nest of crocodile eggs if the weather got much hotter?
- 1. All the eggs would hatch into lizards — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. The eggs would all hatch a whole year early, in the middle of winter — no support
- 3. Nothing, temperature never matters — no support
- 4. More of the babies would be one sex than the other — ✓ 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 6 · right ✓
oi mate fancy a swim in that river? sign says crocs
- 1. No, never swim where the signs warn about crocodiles — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. Yes, crocodiles only live in the sea — no support
- 3. Yes, if you splash they leave — no support
- 4. No, but you can paddle in the shallow water right near the bank — 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 can a crocodile go months without eating, but you can't?
- 1. You could too if you tried — no support
- 2. Crocodiles store extra food in their thick tails for later — no support
- 3. Crocodiles eat stones instead — score 6
- 4. Cold-blooded animals use much less energy — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 12: «Crocodiles are cold-blooded: they bask in the sun to warm up and gape their mouths to let heat escape, and can go months without eating, because an animal that…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «use» (+3); the same doer «animal» (+3); the same thing acted on «less energy» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 8 · right ✓
Mate reckons birds and crocodiles aren't related at all. Who's right?
- 1. Crocodiles are birds' closest living relatives — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
- 2. Crocodiles are closest to snakes — score 6
- 3. Birds are closest to frogs — no support
- 4. Your mate is right, they're not related in any way — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 13: «Crocodile ancestors lived alongside dinosaurs over 200 million years ago, and crocodiles are the closest living relatives of birds.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same doer «crocodiles» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 9 · right ✓
Why might a capybara feel safe beside a resting caiman?
- 1. Caimans eat only plants — score 5
- 2. A caiman that has just eaten may not bother with a big rodent — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 3. Caimans are afraid of capybaras — score 5
- 4. Capybaras are poisonous to eat — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 8, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 5: «And the cute pictures of a capybara sitting on a «crocodile» are usually a caiman in South America, a relative of alligators that has often just eaten and does…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «eat» (+3); the same doer «relative» (+3); the same thing acted on «relative» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 10 · wrong ✗
Why did American alligators recover after being endangered?
- 1. Hunting was controlled — ✓ the right answer · score 4
- 2. They started laying more eggs in cities — no support
- 3. They learned to live in the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 6
- 4. People fed them every day — no support
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 16: «American alligators live in swamps, rivers and lakes in the south-eastern USA and recovered from being endangered once hunting was controlled.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «live» (+3); the same doer «american alligators» (+3). The right option, 1, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Test 11 · right ✓
During a drought, why are gator holes good for other animals?
- 1. The alligators share their food — no support
- 2. The holes are full of fruit that falls from the trees around them — no support
- 3. Alligators leave in droughts — no support
- 4. The holes the alligators dig keep water when everything else dries out — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 29, line 18: «In the dry season alligators dig gator holes that keep water when everything else dries out, and many other animals drink and live there.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+3); the same doer «gator holes» (+3). · 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 distinction between the snout of an alligator and that of a crocodile?
- 1. The crocodile possesses a beak — score 11
- 2. The alligator's is broad and U-shaped; the crocodile's is narrower and V-shaped — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12
- 3. The alligator's is narrow; the crocodile's is broad and square — score 10
- 4. Both are identical in every respect — no support
Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 with score 12, against 11 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 3: «To tell them apart, look at the snout and the teeth: an alligator has a wide U-shaped snout and its lower teeth hide when it shuts its mouth, while a crocodile…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same doer «crocodile» (+4); the same property (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓
Identify the factor which determines the sex of crocodile hatchlings.
- 1. The temperature at which the eggs are incubated — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
- 2. The month of laying — no support
- 3. The age of the mother — no support
- 4. The depth of the river in which the mother lives — 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 principal reason for which a crocodile is observed to rotate repeatedly in the water while grasping its prey.
- 1. It is incapable of chewing and so tears off portions — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
- 2. It is signalling to the other crocodiles that the prey is its own — score 6
- 3. It seeks to render itself dizzy — score 4
- 4. It is cleansing its prey — no support
Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 8, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 29, line 4: «In Peter Pan the crocodile swallows a ticking clock and chases Captain Hook for more; real crocodiles can't chew at all, so they spin over and over in the deat…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «chew» (+5); the same doer «real crocodiles» (+5). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics
Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗
Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the nearest living relatives of the crocodiles.
- 1. Lizards — ← Mova's choice · no support
- 2. Frogs — no support
- 3. Snakes — no support
- 4. Birds — ✓ 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/29-crocodiles-and-alligators/