The axolotl, the tardigrade and the mantis shrimp

Tests: 5 of 11 right · Exam: 3 of 4 right · Kind: ★ · Understood: 10 of 15 · Run: 2026-10-18, commit f3c23ea72

Lesson 44 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 ✗

«tardigrades are literally indestructible, you could nuke one» What is right?

1. No, they die in a single day of sunshine — score 0
2. Yes, they live forever — ← Mova's choice · score 3
3. Only dried tuns are very tough, and even they can die — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. Yes, nothing can ever kill a tardigrade, not even the Sun itself — no support

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 3, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 44, line 11: «As tuns, tardigrades have survived extreme cold, huge doses of radiation and, in 2007, 10 days outside a spacecraft in space.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «survive» (+2); the same doer «tardigrades» (+1). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 2 · ★ · right ✓

In a game, an axolotl lives happily on land and breathes air like a lizard. What is wrong?

1. Nothing, axolotls always leave the water and grow lungs as adults — score 2
2. Axolotls breathe fire, not air — score 4
3. Axolotls live only in trees — score 4
4. Axolotls keep their gills and live in water all their lives — ← 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 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 32, line 14: «The axolotl is a salamander that keeps its feathery baby gills and stays in water all its life; wild axolotls live only in a few canals near Mexico City and ar…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+4); the same thing acted on «feathery baby gills» (+2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 3 · ★ · right ✓

«my axolotl's smiling so he's fine, innit» What is the best answer?

1. Its face always looks like a smile, so watch how it behaves — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Yes, a smile proves it is healthy, happy pets always smile like that — no support
3. Yes, sick axolotls frown — no support
4. No, smiling means it is about to bite — 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 ✗

A cartoon mantis shrimp sees a magic rainbow we cannot imagine. What does science say?

1. It sees with its claws — ← Mova's choice · score 8
2. It sees in black and white only — score 8
3. It sees exactly what we see, with the same three kinds of colour sensor — score 8
4. It has many colour sensors but tells close colours apart worse — ✓ the right answer · score 1

Why: It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 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 44, line 4: «Games and memes call tardigrades indestructible and say mantis shrimps see a rainbow we cannot imagine; the truth is cleverer, because the tardigrade survives…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «see» (+4); the same doer «mantis shrimps» (+4). The right option, 4, scored 1. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗

«there's loads of axolotls in pet shops so they're not endangered» What is right?

1. Right, they are the commonest animal in Mexico — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Pets are common, but wild ones in Xochimilco are critically endangered — ✓ the right answer · no support
3. Right, wild ones are everywhere — no support
4. Wrong, there are no axolotls in pet shops — no support

Why: Nothing it remembers matched the question, so it guessed: it took the first option shown. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗

What would happen if a wet, active tardigrade were dried out very fast in a hot oven?

1. It would turn into a tun at once and be perfectly fine afterwards — ← Mova's choice · score 4
2. It would lay eggs and fly away — score 2
3. It would probably die, because it needs time to become a tun — ✓ the right answer · score 2
4. It would grow bigger — score 2

Why: It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 1 with score 4, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 32, line 14: «The axolotl is a salamander that keeps its feathery baby gills and stays in water all its life; wild axolotls live only in a few canals near Mexico City and ar…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «salamander» (+4). The right option, 3, scored 2. · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗

«mate stuck his finger in a reef hole to see what's in there» What is the best advice?

1. Never do that: a mantis shrimp or other animal could strike hard — ✓ the right answer · no support
2. Fine, reef holes are always empty, nothing ever lives in them, mate — no support
3. Fine, mantis shrimps are too slow to hit — no support
4. Only do it with your thumb — ← Mova's choice · score 2

Why: It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 17, line 6: «Chimps have hands like ours, with fingernails and a thumb that can touch the fingers, and their big toe can grasp too; a chimp's thumb is shorter, so we are be…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same circumstance (+2); the same thing acted on «fingers» (+1). Against it: a different doer (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 8 · ★ · wrong ✗

«mantis shrimp = a shrimp that's also a praying mantis, obvs» What is right?

1. It is a kind of lobster from the reef — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. Yes, it's half shrimp and half insect — no support
3. It is a kind of crab — no support
4. It is neither: it belongs to its own group, the stomatopods — ✓ 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 9 · ★ · right ✓

Why could an axolotl be a help to doctors one day?

1. It can replace lost fingers by itself — score 0
2. Studying how it regrows legs may help people heal better — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 6
3. Its gills can be used for breathing machines — score 0
4. Its smile makes sick patients happy and helps them get well faster — no support

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 6, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 44, line 6: «An axolotl can regrow a whole lost leg with bones, muscles and nerves, and parts of its tail, spinal cord, heart and brain, without leaving a scar; doctors stu…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «whole lost leg» (+3); the same doer «axolotl» (+2); the same action «regrow» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 10 · ★ · right ✓

Why do claws help a tiny water bear more than speed?

1. They let it dig right down to the centre of the Earth to hide — no support
2. They help it fight off whales — no support
3. They let it run faster than ants — no support
4. They grip moss and soil grains so it is not washed away — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 4

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 44, line 9: «Tardigrades, or water bears, are about half a millimetre long, have 8 stumpy legs ending in claws that grip moss and grains of soil so they are not washed away…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «grip» (+2); the same doer «claws» (+1); the same thing acted on «moss» (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Test 11 · ★ · right ✓

Why does a spring-and-catch hit harder than just pushing with a muscle?

1. Energy is stored slowly and then let go all at once — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 3
2. The catch adds a lot of extra energy from nowhere at all — score -1
3. It does not, pushing with plain muscle is always much stronger — score 2
4. Springs are made of a much stronger kind of muscle tissue — score -1

Why: It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 44, line 13: «The peacock mantis shrimp strikes with club-shaped limbs at about 80 km/h, using a spring-and-catch: muscles slowly load the spring, then the catch lets all th…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «let» (+2); the same doer «catch» (+1). · 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 axolotl?

1. It is a fish which has learned to walk upon the bed of the lake — score 4
2. It is a salamander which retains its larval gills and remains wholly aquatic — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 8
3. It is a lizard which inhabits the deserts of Mexico — score 4
4. It is a salamander which loses its gills and lives upon land — score 8

Why: It took the question to ask who or what does it. 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 44, line 2: «The axolotl is a salamander that never grows up: it keeps its baby gills, the feathery frills on its head, and stays in water all its life, smiling a smile tha…», 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 (+3); the same doer «axolotl» (+2); the same thing acted on «salamander» (+2); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+1). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 2 · formal language · right ✓

Identify the principal reason for which a tardigrade may survive desiccation for a period of years.

1. It contracts into a tun, in which its bodily processes almost cease — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · score 1
2. It burrows down to such great depths that water there is never absent — no support
3. It stores within its body a reserve of water sufficient for many years — no support
4. It is constructed of a material which no force upon Earth can destroy — 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 44, line 10: «When its home dries out, a tardigrade pulls in its legs and head and shrivels into a tun, which can survive for years and come back to life when wetted.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «tun» (+2); the same doer «tardigrade» (+1). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-2). · the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics

Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓

Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the vision of the mantis shrimp.

1. Despite its many light sensors, it distinguishes close colours less well than humans — ← Mova's choice · ✓ the right answer · no support
2. It is entirely without the capacity for colour vision — no support
3. It possesses precisely the same three types of colour sensor as humans, and no more — no support
4. It perceives a far greater number of colours than any other animal — 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 ✗

Ascertain the sole location in which axolotls are found in the wild.

1. The coral reefs of Australia — ← Mova's choice · no support
2. The rivers and flooded forests of the Amazon basin — no support
3. The canals of Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City — ✓ the right answer · no support
4. The lakes of northern Canada — 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

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