Poo, wee and smells: rabbits that eat their droppings, dung beetles and the smelliest animals

Tests: 2 of 12 right · Exam: 1 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 10 of 16 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 398 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 ✗

«my rabbit's eating his own poo, he's broken, take him to the vet» What is the best reply?

1. Yes, healthy rabbits never do that, so he must be very ill and needs the vet — ← Mova's choice · score 5
2. He is cleaning his cage for you — no support
3. It is normal: rabbits eat their soft droppings to get more goodness from grass — ✓ the right answer · score 4
4. He is just very hungry, feed him chocolate — score 3

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 200, line 9: «A rabbit's gut needs hay moving through it all the time, and a rabbit that stops eating or pooing for half a day needs a vet urgently.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «need» (+4); the same doer «rabbit» (+1). The right option, 3, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if a rabbit could not eat its soft droppings?

1. It would stop making droppings — ← Mova's choice · score 9
2. It would get less goodness out of its food — ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Nothing at all would change — no support
4. It would grow faster and bigger than ever before — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 9, against 6 for the next best. Its support: lesson 200, line 10: «Rabbits eat some of their own droppings, soft ones made at night, to digest their food a second time; this is normal and healthy, and the hard round droppings…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «make» (+6); the same thing acted on «soft ones» (+3). The right option, 2, scored 6. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · wrong ✗

In a cartoon, a beetle rolls a dung ball round in circles and gets dizzy. What does a real dung beetle try to do?

1. Roll it round in circles to make the ball rounder — ← Mova's choice · score 6
2. Roll it back to the pile — no support
3. Roll it up the trees — no support
4. Roll it in a straight line away from the pile — ✓ the right answer · score 5

Why: It took the question to ask a circumstance (with what, when, how). It chose option 1 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 305, line 3: «Look at a bee hotel of hollow stems in a garden: a red mason bee fills each stem with a row of rooms, each with pollen and one egg, walled off with mud. Leafcu…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «wrap» (+4); the same place «neat circles» (+2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗

«bird pooped on dad's car again, why's it white?» What is the right answer?

1. Birds paint their droppings white — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Birds drink milk — no support
3. The white part is the bird's waste water made into a paste — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Birds eat lots of chalk and little stones, and that comes out white — 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 ✗

Count them: a ranger shows pictures of round balls, dark beans and droppings with fur and seeds. How many different animals, and which?

1. 2: rabbit and fox — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 3: rabbit, deer and fox — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 1: a deer — no support
4. 3: rabbit, panda and whale — 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 might happen to fish if there were far fewer whales?

1. Fish would have to eat whale poo themselves — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. There might be fewer fish, because whale poo feeds the tiny plants at the bottom of the food chain — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. There would be many more fish, because whales eat almost all of the fish in the sea every year — score 1
4. Nothing, whales have no effect — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 231, line 12: «Elephantnose fish make a weak electric field around themselves and read it with their long chins to find food in dark, muddy African rivers.», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «elephantnose fish» (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

Why is studying droppings easier than finding shy animals themselves?

1. Shy animals never poo — no support
2. Droppings can tell you about the animal by talking — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Droppings stay put and hold food, hair and even DNA — ✓ the right answer · score 3
4. Shy animals do not really have bodies that can be found — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 3, tied with another option at 3 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 343, line 2: «Most farm animals in Britain are taken to an abattoir, also called a slaughterhouse, and the law says they must usually be made unconscious first so they do no…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same circumstance (+3). The right option, 3, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

«my cat stopped burying her poo in the tray, so what» Why should the owner notice?

1. It means the litter is far too clean — no support
2. Cats never bother to bury poo anyway — ← Mova's choice · score 8
3. The cat may be stressed or unwell — ✓ the right answer · score 8
4. It means the cat is very happy at home — score 1

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 327, line 2: «Most of its strange habits have good reasons. It buries its poo so enemies cannot smell it, scratches to clean its claws and leave scent, and kneads your jumpe…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bury» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); a different doer (counts against) (+2); the same thing acted on «poo» (+1). Against it: one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, scored 8. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗

«why's he sniff every lamp post on the walk, it's well boring» What is the dog doing?

1. Counting the posts — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Reading smell messages about which dogs passed and when — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Looking for lost bones — no support
4. Checking for 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

Test 10 · ★ · right ✓

In a cartoon, a skunk sprays a fox, and next week the fox chases it again. What would a real fox probably do?

1. Ask the skunk for a truce — no support
2. Chase skunks even more, to pay them back for the smell — no support
3. Remember the smell and leave skunks alone — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. Spray the skunk back — no support

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 3 with score 5, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 224, line 4: «The skunk does not attack without warning: it stamps, raises its tail and only then sprays a liquid so smelly that a dog will remember it for life.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+5); the same action «remember» (+4). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · right ✓

Count them: a panda poos 40 times a day. How many times in 2 days?

1. 80 — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. 60 — no support
3. 400 — no support
4. 42 — 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 12 · ★ · wrong ✗

Why does a panda that digests little need to eat so much bamboo?

1. It gets only a small part of the goodness, so it needs a lot — ✓ the right answer · score 4
2. Bamboo is the richest food on Earth — no support
3. It saves food for winter — ← Mova's choice · score 7
4. It likes the taste of leaves — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 390, line 4: «Animals that eat poor food, like koalas, or must wait for their food, like bats, sleep a lot to save energy.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «save» (+4); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+2); the same doer «animals» (+1). The right option, 1, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗

Identify the principal reason for which the domestic rabbit consumes its soft droppings.

1. The droppings contain sugar which the rabbit prefers — score -2
2. The food is thereby passed through the gut a second time, permitting a greater quantity of nourishment to be obtained — ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. The rabbit is invariably deprived of food and is compelled by hunger to consume whatever material lies within its enclosure — ← Mova's choice · score 6
4. The rabbit seeks to clean its enclosure — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 382, line 12: «The dark patches on the Moon are plains of old cooled lava, and people in China, Japan and Korea see a rabbit there, because our brains love finding faces and…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+3); the same thing acted on «rabbit» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 2, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the navigation of certain dung beetles at night?

1. They maintain a straight course by reference to the Milky Way and the Moon — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. They navigate by the sound of flowing water — no support
3. They are incapable of maintaining a straight course — no support
4. They navigate exclusively by the scent of flowers — 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 · wrong ✗

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the phenomenon known as the whale pump.

1. Whales pump water out of vessels at sea — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Whales consume the minute plants upon which krill depend — no support
3. Whales expel water through their blowholes in order to irrigate the ocean and to cool its surface waters — no support
4. Whales feed at depth and defecate near the surface, supplying nutrients to minute marine plants — ✓ 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 ✗

It is given that a healthy rabbit produces several hundred hard droppings daily. Ascertain the purpose served by its soft droppings.

1. They are fed to the young exclusively — ← Mova's choice · score 1
2. They are consumed in order to extract further nourishment from the food — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. They are discarded as being of no use — no support
4. They are employed to mark the boundaries of territory — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 1, tied with another option at 1 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 179, line 3: «Food is scarce in the dark, so a lot of it comes from outside: bats fly out at sunset to eat insects and come back to drop their droppings, which feed beetles…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «droppings» (+2). Against it: the same action «feed» (-1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/398-poo-wee-and-smells-rabbits-that-eat-their-droppings-dung-beetles-and-the-smelliest-animals/