Ukraine's steppe: marmots, sousliks, great bustards and Askania-Nova

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: plain · Understood: 10 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 373 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 ✗

Count them: a great bustard has 3 toes on each foot. How many toes on both feet?

1. 4 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 8 — no support
3. 10 — no support
4. 6 — ✓ 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 2 · wrong ✗

Count them: a marmot family of 7 stands up on their back legs. How many legs are touching the ground?

1. 21 — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. 7 — score 7
3. 28 — score 7
4. 14 — ✓ the right answer · score 7

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 7, tied with another option at 7 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 326, line 15: «Most dogs have 18 toes: four on each paw plus a thumb-like dewclaw high on each front leg that does not touch the ground.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «touch» (+5); the same doer «front leg» (+2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 7. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · wrong ✗

Count them: 4 Przewalski's horses and 2 zebras graze at Askania-Nova. How many legs?

1. 12 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 16 — no support
3. 20 — no support
4. 24 — ✓ 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 4 · right ✓

In a cartoon a gopher pops up from its hole, chats all winter and never sleeps. What is right for a steppe marmot?

1. It sleeps through the winter for about half the year — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 2
2. It flies south for the winter — score 1
3. It stays awake and eats all winter long under the snow — score 1
4. It sleeps only on Sundays — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 183, line 16: «Marmots whistle loudly when they see an eagle or a fox, warning the others to run to their burrows, and they sleep through winter for up to eight months.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «sleep» (+1); the same property (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · wrong ✗

«marmot's just lazy, sleeps half the year lol» Why is it really sleeping?

1. It is too fat to walk, so it stays in bed until the fat melts — no support
2. Marmots are sick in winter — ← Mova's choice · score 2
3. Marmots hate snow and sulk — no support
4. There is no food in winter, so it saves energy by sleeping — ✓ the right answer · no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 183, line 16: «Marmots whistle loudly when they see an eagle or a fox, warning the others to run to their burrows, and they sleep through winter for up to eight months.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+2). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · wrong ✗

Why does a fat marmot sleep through winter better than a thin one?

1. Fat marmots sleep less — score 0
2. It has more stored fat to live on until spring — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Fat marmots eat in their sleep — no support
4. Thin marmots wake up warmer and stronger in the spring — ← Mova's choice · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 5, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 325, line 13: «Hamsters are night animals that sleep in the day and may bite if woken, and a fall from a small child's hands can badly hurt one.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «wake» (+5); the same doer «night animals» (+3). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · right ✓

«bustard's just a big chicken, can't fly» What is right?

1. It only flies at night — no support
2. It can fly, and it is one of the heaviest birds that can — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. It cannot fly at all, it only runs very fast like an ostrich — no support
4. It is a kind of turkey — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 373, line 11: «The great bustard is one of the heaviest birds that can fly; big males weigh about 16 kilograms, and it is in Ukraine's Red Book.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · right ✓

What would happen to the steppe eagles if all souslik colonies disappeared?

1. Nothing would change for them — no support
2. They would start eating grass — no support
3. They would lose a main food and disappear too — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 7
4. They would be happier with more space — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 3 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 373, line 10: «Sousliks are a main food for steppe eagles, imperial eagles and steppe polecats, so when souslik colonies disappear these hunters disappear too.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «disappear» (+6); a different doer (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · wrong ✗

«zebras in Ukraine?? that's fake» What is right?

1. Zebras have always lived wild in Ukraine — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. Askania-Nova keeps animals from many continents, zebras too — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Zebras are a kind of Ukrainian horse — no support
4. The photo must be from Africa, because zebras cannot live in cold places — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 1, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 293, line 10: «Zebras are nervous, kick and bite and are hard to catch, because they lived for a very long time alongside lions and human hunters; only a few people ever drov…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «live» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · right ✓

Why might a zoo be the last home of a wild animal like Przewalski's horse?

1. Zoos made it by mixing different farm horses together — score 3
2. It died out in the wild but survived and was bred in zoos — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. Zoos are where all wild animals first come from — score 1
4. Wild animals prefer cages — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 117, line 1: «Australian zoos often look after Australia's own odd and wonderful animals: Taronga in Sydney has giraffes with the Opera House behind them, Healesville bred t…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «zoo» (+4); the same action «breed» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · right ✓

What would a steppe need before a big grazer like the saiga could return?

1. Big protected grassland with no hunting or ploughing — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. More wheat fields and roads — no support
3. Tall forests to hide in — no support
4. Lots of zoos close by, so sick saigas can be taken in quickly — 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 · wrong ✗

Identify the principal function of the whistle emitted by the steppe marmot.

1. To summon birds to its burrow — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. To warn members of its family of approaching predators — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. To attract a mate in autumn — no support
4. To signal the onset of rain — 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 ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the feet of the great bustard.

1. Each foot bears four toes adapted to perching — no support
2. Each foot bears three toes and no hind toe, consistent with life on open ground — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The feet are webbed for swimming — ← Mova's choice · score 3
4. Each foot bears a single toe — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 337, line 7: «A coot has three toes forward and one back, each with flat flaps called lobes that spread when swimming and fold when walking; ducks have webbed feet, and moor…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «feet» (+3). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · wrong ✗

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the present extent of the Ukrainian steppe?

1. It continues to cover the greater part of southern Ukraine — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It has been entirely converted into forest — no support
3. It has expanded considerably during the past century — no support
4. Only a minute fraction survives, principally in reserves and upon ancient burial mounds — ✓ 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 ✓

Ascertain the manner in which the Przewalski's horse was preserved after it had perished in the wild.

1. It was crossed from zebras — no support
2. It was bred in zoos — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. It was cloned from bones — no support
4. It was found again in Brazil — score 0

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 284, line 14: «Gerald Durrell founded Jersey Zoo to breed endangered animals, wrote funny books about his animal-filled childhood in Greece, and helped save animals like the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «breed» (+4); the same thing acted on «endangered animals» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/373-ukraine-s-steppe-marmots-sousliks-great-bustards-and-askania-nova/