The real animals of the river bank: the water vole, the mole, the otter, the toad and the river birds

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 0 of 4 right · Kind: ★★ · Understood: 11 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 403 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 ✗

«ratty's a rat innit, it's in his name» What is right?

1. He is a water vole: a blunt-nosed plant-eater with a short furry tail — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. He is a mouse that grew very big by living near water — no support
3. He is a brown rat, the kind that lives in sewers, because the book says so — ← Mova's choice · score 4
4. He is a rat that has learnt to swim from the Otter — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 4, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 332, line 2: «At the vet's, a microchip about the size of a grain of rice slides under the skin between a puppy's shoulder blades. It has no battery and never runs out; it j…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «digit number» (+2); the same doer «digit number» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 1, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★★ · right ✓

Near a stream you hear a loud «plop» and see a chubby brown animal vanish under the bank. What was it most likely?

1. A big pike jumping right out of the water for a fly — no support
2. A toad leaping from the bank into its pond — no support
3. A mole that slipped and fell in the river — no support
4. A water vole diving into its burrow — ← 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, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 373, line 2: «The steppe is flat grassland with no trees to hide behind, so its animals live by watching far, standing up tall and running into burrows. Little sousliks do t…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «burrows» (+4); the same doer «animals» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★★ · right ✓

A cartoon mole wears dark glasses because it is «totally blind». Put it right.

1. A mole has no eyes at all, not even small ones, only two holes — score 4
2. A mole sees perfectly well and only wears glasses in the story to look cool — no support
3. A mole can tell light from dark but sees very little, and finds food by touch and smell — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
4. A mole is blind from birth because the soil got into its eyes when it was a baby — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 403, line 3: «The Mole really does live underground in the dark, digs with huge spade-like paws and gets his food from tunnels; the Otter really is a strong swimmer who teac…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «dark» (+4); the same doer «mole» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 4 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«grandad dug up a mole's nest and found loads of worms with no heads, gross. why?» What is the best answer?

1. Worms grow without heads when they live too close to moles — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. Moles bite worms' heads so they stay alive in a larder but cannot crawl off — ✓ the right answer · score 2
3. The worms lost their heads in the cold winter frost, which bites off the soft parts — no support
4. Grandad's spade must have cut every single one of them in half — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 291, line 13: «Cutting a worm in half usually kills it; sometimes the head end heals and survives, but the tail end cannot grow a new head, and it is cruel to try.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «grow» (+2); the same circumstance (+2); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). The right option, 2, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★★ · right ✓

In the book the Mole spring-cleans his house with brooms and whitewash. What does a real mole do in spring?

1. Moves into a house by the river — score 4
2. Paints the walls of its tunnels white with chalk — no support
3. Sweeps out its tunnels with its long tail — score 5
4. Looks for a mate and digs new tunnels — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 12

Why: It took the question to ask what is done. It chose option 4 with score 12, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 245, line 9: «Moles dig tunnels and push the soil up into molehills; worms fall into the tunnels and the mole patrols them, and it keeps a larder of worms with bitten heads.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same action «dig» (+3); the same doer «moles» (+3); the same thing acted on «tunnels» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★★ · right ✓

In the book the Otter dives after a May-fly at the picnic. What would a real otter more likely be chasing?

1. A fish or an eel — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. A sandwich from the basket — no support
3. A duck's egg — no support
4. A dragonfly in the air — 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 · ★★ · wrong ✗

«otters are extinct in england, my teacher said like 30 years ago» What is true now?

1. They are extinct in the wild and now only live in zoos and wildlife parks — score 1
2. They live only in the sea now, never in rivers — score 4
3. They nearly vanished, but came back and have been reported in every county — ✓ the right answer · score 5
4. They never lived in England at all, only in Scotland — ← Mova's choice · score 6

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 6, against 5 for the next best. Its support: lesson 403, line 15: «Otters almost disappeared from England in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly because farm poisons got into the rivers and the fish; after those poisons were banned th…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «england» (+4); the same doer «otters» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 3, scored 5. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 8 · ★★ · wrong ✗

Portly «hasn't learnt to swim very well yet», and his father taught him at the ford. Which part is true of real otters?

1. Otter cubs never swim at all until they are fully grown up — score 3
2. Otters are born strong swimmers and never need any lessons at all — score 7
3. Only the father otters teach the cubs, never the mothers — ← Mova's choice · score 8
4. Cubs are nervous of water and are taught by their mother — ✓ the right answer · score 3

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 7 for the next best. Its support: lesson 403, line 3: «The Mole really does live underground in the dark, digs with huge spade-like paws and gets his food from tunnels; the Otter really is a strong swimmer who teac…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «teach» (+3); it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same doer «otter» (+2). The right option, 4, scored 3. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 9 · ★★ · wrong ✗

What would happen to water voles on a river if mink were trapped and the reeds allowed to grow back?

1. The voles would leave the river and go to live in the sea — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. Water voles could come back and live there again — ✓ the right answer · score 1
3. Nothing at all would change, as voles need no plants to eat — score 4
4. The voles would all turn into brown rats within a few years — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 278, line 6: «In 1809 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck suggested that animals pass on body changes they gained by using them, such as a stretched neck; this is wrong, because stretchin…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: its «because» matches the remembered cause (+3); the same doer «animals» (+1). The right option, 2, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★★ · right ✓

«toads hop like frogs, everyone knows that» Is that right for the common toad?

1. Yes, but only when they are going backwards — no support
2. No, a common toad mostly walks with short legs — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 5
3. No, toads crawl along on their bellies like snakes — no support
4. Yes, toads hop even further and higher than frogs do — score 1

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 5, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 247, line 14: «Toads walk more than they hop and have drier, bumpier skin than frogs.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «walk» (+4); the same doer «toads» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★★ · wrong ✗

★★★ A survey team counts animals on 3 stretches of river: 4 water voles on each stretch, and 1 otter on 2 of them. A mink kills 2 voles. How many voles and otters are left in all?

1. 14 — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. 12 — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. 10 — no support
4. 15 — 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 animal which is represented, in the novel, by the character known as the Water Rat.

1. The musk rat, introduced from North America — ← Mova's choice · score 7
2. The water vole, a plant-eating rodent of the river bank — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The beaver, which constructs dams of timber across rivers — no support
4. The brown rat, a rodent of towns, drains and farmyards — score 4

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 7, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 116, line 3: «In America, San Diego Zoo grew out of animals left over from a big exhibition, the Bronx Zoo sent bison back to the Great Plains, and the free National Zoo in…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «america» (+4); the same thing acted on «animals» (+2); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 2, found no support in what it remembers. · 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 diet of the European mole.

1. It consumes chiefly the roots of grass and of garden flowers, which it gnaws in its tunnels — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. It feeds upon fish which it catches in streams at night — no support
3. It subsists principally upon earthworms, some of which it stores alive — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. It eats only insects caught in the air — 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 ✗

Ascertain the principal cause of the decline of the otter in England during the 1960s and 1970s.

1. Competition with the water vole for fish — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Poisons used in farming entered the rivers and the fish — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. The flooding of every river in the land during the winter — no support
4. The cutting down of the willows — 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 relationship between the otter and the mayfly?

1. The mayfly feeds upon young otters — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. The mayfly and the otter share a burrow — score 4
3. The otter consumes the mayfly as its principal food — score 2
4. The otter feeds chiefly upon fish; it is trout that rise to take the mayfly — ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 4, tied with another option at 4 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 403, line 16: «Mayflies are eaten by trout and other fish that leap up at them, not by otters; an adult mayfly lives only a day or two and cannot even eat, after a year or mo…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+2); the same doer «adult mayfly» (+1); a different action (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 4. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

This page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/403-the-real-animals-of-the-river-bank-water-vole-mole-otter-toad-and-the-river-birds/