---
title: Dolphins, porpoises and seals — how Mova does on the tests · Biology
description: Lesson 27 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 3 of 11 tests right, exam 2 of 4, every question with the options, the student's choice, the right answer and why it chose.
---

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# Dolphins, porpoises and seals

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**Tests:** 3 of 11 right · **Exam:** 2 of 4 right · **Kind:** ★ · **Understood:** 8 of 15 · **Run:** 2026-10-18, commit `f3c23ea72`

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Lesson 27 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/).

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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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/).

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### Test 1 · ★ · right ✓ {#t1}

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flipper's always smiling so dolphins must be happy all the time right

- **1.** No, the "smile" is just the shape of its mouth — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 12
- **2.** No, dolphins frown when the water's cold and smile only when it's warm — score 3
- **3.** Yes, they smile when they're full — score 3
- **4.** Yes, dolphins are always happy — score 4

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 12, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 27, line 5: «Cartoons show a dolphin always smiling and a seal clapping and balancing a ball; the «smile» is just the shape of a dolphin's mouth, not a happy face, and the…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «smile» (+5); the same thing acted on «shape» (+3); the same circumstance (+2); 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t1/)

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### Test 2 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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In the cartoon a seal claps its flippers and balances a ball. What's the real story?

- **1.** That is a trick taught to sea lions, not what wild seals do — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Wild seals do it every day on the rocks to have some fun — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **3.** Only baby seals do it — no support
- **4.** Seals clap to call their mothers — score 8

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**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 27, line 14: «Seals haul out on rocks to rest, warm up and look after pups, and a thick layer of blubber keeps them warm in icy water.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «seals» (+4); the same place «rocks» (+2); its «because» matches the remembered cause (+2). The right option, 1, 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t2/)

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### Test 3 · ★ · right ✓ {#t3}

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Count them: how many flippers do three sea lions have altogether?

- **1.** 12 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** 6 — no support
- **3.** 3 — no support
- **4.** 9 — no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t3/)

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### Test 4 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t4}

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My mate says porpoises are just baby dolphins. What do you say?

- **1.** No, they are a separate group with rounded heads and spade-shaped teeth — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** No, porpoises are a kind of fish that look a lot like dolphins — no support
- **3.** Yes, but only the grey ones — no support
- **4.** Yes, they grow into dolphins — **← Mova's choice** · score 7

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 4 with score 7, the only option with support. Its support: lesson 27, line 12: «Porpoises are smaller cousins of dolphins with rounded heads, no long beak and spade-shaped teeth.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same doer «porpoises» (+4); the same circumstance (+3). The right option, 1, 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t4/)

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### Test 5 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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What would happen if a dolphin's whole brain fell asleep at once in deep water?

- **1.** Nothing, dolphins can breathe the water — **← Mova's choice** · score 4
- **2.** It would breathe through its skin instead — score 2
- **3.** It might forget to come up and breathe — **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **4.** It would sink to the seabed and rest safely — score 2

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**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 27, line 6: «Dolphins find things by echolocation: they send out fast clicks and listen to the echoes, and sound travels well through water even where it is too muddy to se…», reached through what followed the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «dolphin» (+4). The right option, 3, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t5/)

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### Test 6 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t6}

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Why do you think the sponge trick is called a kind of dolphin culture?

- **1.** All dolphins everywhere are born already knowing how to do it — **← Mova's choice** · score 3
- **2.** It was taught by scientists — no support
- **3.** The sponges teach the dolphins — no support
- **4.** It is learned and passed on, mostly from mothers to daughters — **✓ the right answer** · score 2

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**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 27, line 3: «Each bottlenose dolphin has its own signature whistle that works like a name, and friends call each other by copying it, a bit like shouting a mate's name acro…», reached through the cause of the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same thing acted on «dolphin» (+4); a different action (counts against) (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 2. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t6/)

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### Test 7 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t7}

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oi leave that seal pup alone, its mum's coming back. is that right?

- **1.** Yes, but only if it's raining — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Yes, the mother is usually just out fishing — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** No, a pup alone is always abandoned — no support
- **4.** No, seal mothers never come back once they leave the pup on the sand — no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t7/)

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### Test 8 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t8}

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A seal swims fast through dark water and catches a fish it can't see. Which sense helps most?

- **1.** Smell, under water — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Taste, through its flippers — no support
- **3.** Touch, through its whiskers — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Sight, with night vision — no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t8/)

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### Test 9 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t9}

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A sea animal has small ear flaps and walks on its flippers at the zoo. What is it most likely?

- **1.** A young dolphin — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** A sea lion — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** A harbour seal — no support
- **4.** A harbour porpoise — no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t9/)

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### Test 10 · ★ · wrong ✗ {#t10}

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Why would sound be more useful than eyes for a dolphin hunting in a muddy river?

- **1.** Eyes don't work in salt water, so dolphins never use them at all — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Fish can't hear clicks — no support
- **3.** Dolphins are blind — no support
- **4.** Sound travels well in water but you can't see far in mud — **✓ the right answer** · no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t10/)

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### Test 11 · ★ · right ✓ {#t11}

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Why do seals need a thick layer of blubber?

- **1.** It makes them heavy enough to sink — score 4
- **2.** It helps them walk about on land — score 4
- **3.** It stores spare whiskers for later — no support
- **4.** It keeps them warm in icy water — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 9

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**Why:** It took the question to ask why something happens (its cause). It chose option 4 with score 9, against 4 for the next best. Its support: lesson 27, line 14: «Seals haul out on rocks to rest, warm up and look after pups, and a thick layer of blubber keeps them warm in icy water.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «keep» (+3); the same doer «thick layer» (+3); the same thing acted on «seals» (+2); the same property (+1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e1}

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Identify the faculty by which a dolphin is enabled to locate objects in turbid water.

- **1.** Detection of heat by the skin — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Echolocation, by means of emitted clicks and returning echoes — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Olfaction, by means of the blowhole — no support
- **4.** Vision alone, by means of eyes of unusual size and sensitivity — no support

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**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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e1/)

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### Exam question 2 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e2}

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Which of the following statements most accurately characterises the manner in which the dolphin sleeps?

- **1.** The animal does not sleep at any time — score -1
- **2.** Both hemispheres rest at once upon the seabed — no support
- **3.** One hemisphere of the brain rests while the other remains awake — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** It sleeps only while stranded upon the shore, at the lowest of the tides — **← Mova's choice** · score 14

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 4 with score 14, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 27, line 8: «Dolphins sleep with half of their brain at a time, switching sides, so they can keep coming up to breathe.», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+6); the same action «sleep» (+4); the same doer «dolphins» (+4). 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/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e2/)

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### Exam question 3 · formal language · right ✓ {#e3}

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Ascertain the course of action appropriate upon the discovery of an unaccompanied seal pup upon a beach.

- **1.** Remain at a distance and notify a wildlife rescue if it appears injured — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Feed it with cow's milk — no support
- **3.** Convey it forthwith to the sea — no support
- **4.** Remove it to a private dwelling — no support

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**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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · right ✓ {#e4}

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Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the distinction between sea lions and true seals.

- **1.** Sea lions possess external ears and can walk upon their flippers — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 8
- **2.** True seals possess external ears and are able to walk upright upon land — score 6
- **3.** The two are in every respect identical — no support
- **4.** Sea lions lack external ears entirely — score 8

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. 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 27, line 15: «Sea lions have small outer ears, can turn their back flippers forward to walk, and swim with their front flippers; true seals have no outer ears and swim with…», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same doer «sea lions» (+5); the same thing acted on «small outer ears» (+3). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/27-dolphins-porpoises-and-seals/e4/)

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- ← previous: [26. Whales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/26-whales/)
- next →: [28. Sharks](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/28-sharks/)
- ↑ back to [Biology](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/)