--- title: Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kakapos, giant… — how Mova does on the tests · Biology description: Lesson 181 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 7 of 11 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/) / [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/) / 181 # Strange islands: Komodo dragons, the dodo, red crabs, kakapos, giants and dwarfs **Tests:** 7 of 11 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** plain · **Understood:** 11 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72` Lesson 181 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/). Every question of this lesson and each of its options parsed by Mova, with trees and pragmatics: [the lesson's questions in the corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/). ### Test 1 · wrong ✗ {#t1} In Ice Age a gang of silly dodos fight over a melon and fall off a cliff one after another. What is the truth? - **1.** Dodos are still alive in the Arctic — no support - **2.** Dodos were tiny birds that lived in the snow — **← Mova's choice** · score 4 - **3.** Dodos really did die out by falling off cliffs — no support - **4.** The dodo was not stupid; it just had no reason to fear people, and sailors' animals ate its eggs — **✓ the right answer** · no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 2 with score 4, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 136, line 1: «Tigress and Crane are fighters in the film, and their real animals are just as amazing: a tiger that loves a swim and a bird that dances in the snow.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «snow» (+3); the same doer «bird» (+2). Against it: a different action (counts against) (-1). The right option, 4, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t1/) ### Test 2 · right ✓ {#t2} «my cousin says komodo dragons kill with dirty spit, all germs innit» What is right? - **1.** Yes, and they have no teeth — no support - **2.** No, they kill by breathing fire — score 1 - **3.** No, they have venom glands in their jaws that stop blood clotting — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8 - **4.** Yes, it is only the germs from old meat in their mouths — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 8, against 1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 181, line 6: «People once thought germs in the Komodo dragon's mouth killed its prey, but scientists found it has venom glands in its jaw.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «venom glands» (+3); the same place «jaw» (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t2/) ### Test 3 · wrong ✗ {#t3} «3 komodo dragons in the zoo, how many legs and tails altogether» - **1.** 9 — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** 12 — no support - **3.** 15 — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** 18 — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t3/) ### Test 4 · right ✓ {#t4} What would happen if rats reached an island where a bird nests on the ground and cannot fly? - **1.** Nothing, because rats cannot eat eggs — score 6 - **2.** The rats would make friends with the bird and help it find food — score 8 - **3.** The bird would quickly learn to fly — score 0 - **4.** The rats would eat its eggs and chicks, and the bird could die out — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 12 **Why:** It took the question to ask what happens next. It chose option 4 with score 12, against 8 for the next best. Its support: lesson 78, line 11: «The kakapo is a flightless, nocturnal New Zealand parrot, the heaviest in the world; it nests on the ground, where rats and stoats eat its eggs and chicks, and…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «eat» (+4); the same doer «rats» (+4); the same thing acted on «eggs» (+4). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t4/) ### Test 5 · right ✓ {#t5} An old Greek shepherd finds a huge skull with one big hole in the middle of its face. What was it most likely? - **1.** The skull of a dwarf elephant, the hole being for its trunk — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** The skull of a whale — no support - **3.** The skull of a real one-eyed giant from the old Greek stories — no support - **4.** The skull of a dragon — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t5/) ### Test 6 · right ✓ {#t6} «2 dwarf elephants and 1 normal elephant, how many trunks and ears» - **1.** 9 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support - **2.** 3 — no support - **3.** 12 — no support - **4.** 6 — 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t6/) ### Test 7 · wrong ✗ {#t7} Ships brought cats to an island where a parrot walks about at night. Why is this so dangerous for the parrot? - **1.** Cats eat only parrot food, so they would steal all the seeds and fruit — **← Mova's choice** · score -2 - **2.** The parrot is allergic to cats — no support - **3.** The parrot never had ground hunters, so it does not run or fly away — **✓ the right answer** · no support - **4.** Cats make the forest too noisy — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 1 with score -2, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 111, line 7: «Many zoos give big cats one or two fast days a week, because wild cats do not eat every day and fast days stop zoo cats getting fat.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «eat» (+1). Against it: the same doer «wild cats» (-1); one says «not», the other does not (counts against) (-2). The right option, 3, found no support in what it remembers. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t7/) ### Test 8 · right ✓ {#t8} «saw crabs everywhere on the road, someone tell em to go back to the sea» What is really happening? - **1.** Crabs are running from a storm — no support - **2.** Crabs are lost and cannot find their way back to the water after the rain — no support - **3.** Red crabs are walking from the forest to the sea to lay their eggs — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 9 - **4.** Crabs are looking for food on the road — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 9, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 54, line 15: «Every year tens of millions of red crabs on Christmas Island walk from the forest to the sea to release their eggs, which hatch in the sea, timed with the rain…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «forest» (+3); the same action «walk» (+2); the same circumstance (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t8/) ### Test 9 · right ✓ {#t9} «kakapos are just lazy parrots, they could fly if they tried» What is right? - **1.** No, the kakapo is too heavy to fly; it lost flight because it had no ground hunters — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 5 - **2.** Yes, they fly at night when nobody sees — score 2 - **3.** No, kakapos are not birds at all — no support - **4.** Yes, they fly every winter to Australia — score 2 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 181, line 10: «The kakapo is a heavy, flightless parrot of New Zealand that is active at night; New Zealand had no land mammals hunting on the ground, so it could give up fly…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+3); the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t9/) ### Test 10 · right ✓ {#t10} Why do many island birds in Hawaii now live only high up in the mountains? - **1.** The birds like the view — no support - **2.** Mosquitoes that carry bird malaria do not live well in the cold high places — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8 - **3.** There is more nectar on the beach — no support - **4.** The birds are afraid of the sea — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 8, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 181, line 14: «Hawaiian honeycreepers all came from one kind of finch and now have many beak shapes, like curved beaks for sipping nectar; many are endangered because mosquit…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «live» (+4); the same doer «mosquitoes» (+2); the same property (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t10/) ### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11} Why does a kiwi chick need a big egg? - **1.** Kiwi chicks are born as big as their parents and leave home on the first day — score 0 - **2.** Kiwis lay eggs only to scare enemies — **← Mova's choice** · score 5 - **3.** A big egg makes a strong chick that can look after itself early — **✓ the right answer** · score 0 - **4.** The egg must float in the sea — score -1 **Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 2 with score 5, against 0 for the next best. Its support: lesson 35, line 16: «A cuckoo lays its egg in another bird's nest; the cuckoo chick pushes out the other eggs and the foster parents feed it even when it is far bigger than them; y…», reached through a sentence linked to the one the question matched. What matched: the same action «lay» (+3); the same thing acted on «egg» (+2). The right option, 3, scored 0. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/t11/) ### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1} Identify the term which denotes the process whereby small animals inhabiting predator-free islands attain an unusually large body size. - **1.** Seasonal migration — **← Mova's choice** · no support - **2.** Hibernation — no support - **3.** Island dwarfism — no support - **4.** Island gigantism — **✓ 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e1/) ### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2} Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the circumstances of the extinction of the dodo? - **1.** It was extinguished by a volcanic eruption alone — no support - **2.** It perished owing to its want of intelligence — **← Mova's choice** · score 7 - **3.** It migrated to another continent — score 7 - **4.** Animals introduced by sailors consumed its eggs, and it was hunted by people — **✓ the right answer** · score 5 **Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 2 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 181, line 7: «The dodo was a big flightless pigeon from Mauritius; it died out in the late 1600s after sailors brought rats, pigs and monkeys that ate its eggs, and people h…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+4); the same doer «dodo» (+3). The right option, 4, scored 5. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e2/) ### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3} Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the Komodo dragon. - **1.** It is a species of crocodile that inhabits rivers — no support - **2.** It is a flightless bird of New Zealand — no support - **3.** It is the largest living lizard and its bite contains venom — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6 - **4.** It kills its prey solely by means of oral bacteria — no support **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 6, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 181, line 5: «The Komodo dragon of Indonesia is the largest living lizard, up to about three metres long; it ambushes deer and pigs, and its bite has venom that stops blood…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «bite» (+4); the same doer «dragon» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e3/) ### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4} Ascertain the principal reason for which the kakapo of New Zealand lost the capacity for flight. - **1.** It was domesticated by early settlers — no support - **2.** Its feathers were destroyed by the cold of the southern winters — no support - **3.** It acquired the habit of swimming instead — no support - **4.** Its homeland lacked mammalian predators hunting on the ground — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 7 **Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 181, line 10: «The kakapo is a heavy, flightless parrot of New Zealand that is active at night; New Zealand had no land mammals hunting on the ground, so it could give up fly…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «hunt» (+4); the same place «ground» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/181-strange-islands-komodo-dragons-the-dodo-red-crabs-kakapos-giants-and-dwarfs/e4/) - ← previous: [180. The Galápagos: giant tortoises, sea iguanas, Dar…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/180-the-galapagos-giant-tortoises-sea-iguanas-darwins-finches-and-tame-sea-lions/) - next →: [182. Deserts of the world: fennec foxes, fog-drinking…](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/182-deserts-of-the-world-fennec-foxes-fog-drinking-beetles-camels-and-silver-ants/) - ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/)