---
title: Owls of the world: barn owls, eagle owls, elf owls and burrowing owls — how Mova does on the tests · Biology
description: Lesson 301 of the biology course of Mova's primary school: 4 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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# Owls of the world: barn owls, eagle owls, elf owls and burrowing owls

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

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Lesson 301 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/).

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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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/).

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### Test 1 · right ✓ {#t1}

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Count them: 3 owls sit on a branch. How many toes is that altogether?

- **1.** 24 — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** 12 — no support
- **3.** 18 — no support
- **4.** 30 — 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t1/)

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### Test 2 · wrong ✗ {#t2}

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Count them: an eagle owl has two tall tufts on its head. How many real ears does it have?

- **1.** 4, two tufts and two hidden — no support
- **2.** None, owls hear through their feet — **← Mova's choice** · score 8
- **3.** 2, inside the tufts — no support
- **4.** 2, hidden at the sides of its head — **✓ the right answer** · score -3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 2 with score 8, against -3 for the next best. Its support: lesson 301, line 15: «Owls have four toes on each foot, and the outer toe can swing forward or back, so two can point forward and two back in an X-shaped grip; the osprey can do the…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same place «foot» (+8). The right option, 4, scored -3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t2/)

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### Test 3 · wrong ✗ {#t3}

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«my mate says the shriek from the church tower is a ghost, swear down» What is the truth?

- **1.** Owls only hoot, so it must be a ghost — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Only bats shriek at night, so it must be a bat in the tower — no support
- **3.** It is very likely a barn owl, which shrieks instead of hooting — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** Ghosts really live in church towers — 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t3/)

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### Test 4 · wrong ✗ {#t4}

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In the Harry Potter films a snowy owl carries letters. «can i get one as a pet??» What is the best answer?

- **1.** Yes, they really carry letters if they are trained from an egg — **← Mova's choice** · score 6
- **2.** Yes, they eat ordinary bird seed — no support
- **3.** No, snowy owls are wild Arctic birds needing huge spaces and whole prey — **✓ the right answer** · score -1
- **4.** Yes, they love living in a small cage — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 with score 6, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 94, line 13: «Owls fly almost silently thanks to soft fringed feather edges, and an owl can turn its head about three quarters of the way round, but not a full circle; most…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: it fills the role the question asks for (+3); the same action «carry» (+2); the same thing acted on «letters» (+1). The right option, 3, scored -1. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t4/)

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### Test 5 · wrong ✗ {#t5}

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About how many 40-gram elf owls would weigh as much as one 3-kilogram eagle owl?

- **1.** About 7 — **← Mova's choice** · score 3
- **2.** About 3 — score 3
- **3.** About 750 — score 3
- **4.** About 75 — **✓ the right answer** · score 3

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 1 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 301, line 3: «At the other end of the scale the Eurasian eagle owl, with wings almost two metres across, can catch hares and even young foxes, while the elf owl of the deser…», reached through the remembered sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «weigh» (+2); a different thing acted on (counts against) (+1). The right option, 4, scored 3. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t5/)

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### Test 6 · wrong ✗ {#t6}

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A fox comes near a burrowing owl's hole and hears a rattlesnake hiss. What is most likely really happening?

- **1.** The owl is calling its parents — no support
- **2.** A snake has eaten all the owls and is now living in their burrow — no support
- **3.** The owl chicks are hissing like a snake — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **4.** The fox is hearing its own echo — **← Mova's choice** · score 2

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**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 141, line 8: «A fox hunting in snow listens for mice underneath, leaps high and dives head first onto them; one unproven idea says foxes use the Earth's magnetism to aim.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «listen» (+3). Against it: the same doer «fox» (-1). 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t6/)

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### Test 7 · wrong ✗ {#t7}

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What would happen if all the old hollow trees along a river in the Russian Far East were cut down?

- **1.** Nothing, fish owls nest in the water — **← Mova's choice** · no support
- **2.** Fish owls would have nowhere big enough to nest — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Fish owls would happily nest in cactuses instead — no support
- **4.** Fish owls would start eating seeds — 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t7/)

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### Test 8 · right ✓ {#t8}

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In a cartoon, an owl hoots «twit-twoo» all by itself on a branch. What is more true in a real wood?

- **1.** It is usually two owls, one calling and one answering — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **2.** Only baby owls make that call when they are hungry — no support
- **3.** Owls hoot only in the daytime — score -1
- **4.** Owls never make any sound — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 1 with score 2, against -1 for the next best. Its support: lesson 301, line 14: «The «twit-twoo» of a British wood is usually two tawny owls, one calling «ke-wick» and another answering «hoo-hoo-oo»; a tawny owl pair may stay in the same wo…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same light verb (be, have, do, get, go) (+2); the same thing acted on «two tawny owls» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t8/)

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### Test 9 · right ✓ {#t9}

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«lol owls live everywhere, even with the penguins in Antarctica» Is that right?

- **1.** No, owls live only in Europe — score 2
- **2.** Yes, snowy owls live there with the penguins — score 5
- **3.** No, owls live on every continent except Antarctica — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 6
- **4.** Yes, all owls go there in winter — no support

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**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 301, line 5: «There are about 250 kinds of owl, split into two families: the barn owls and the typical owls; owls live on every continent except Antarctica.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «continent» (+4); the same action «live» (+3). Against it: the same doer «owls» (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t9/)

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### Test 10 · right ✓ {#t10}

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In experiments, a barn owl caught a mouse in a completely dark room. How?

- **1.** It saw the mouse with its special night eyes — score -1
- **2.** It smelled the mouse from far away — score -2
- **3.** It heard the mouse and pounced on the sound — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 3
- **4.** The mouse ran into it by luck — score 2

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**Why:** It took the question to ask which statement is true. It chose option 3 with score 3, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 215, line 2: «A red fox is a member of the dog family, but it hunts alone, climbs fences and pounces like a cat: in winter it can hear a mouse under the snow, leap high and…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same action «hear» (+3); the same thing acted on «mouse» (+1). Against it: a different doer (counts against) (-1). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t10/)

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### Test 11 · wrong ✗ {#t11}

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An owl and an osprey both catch slippery prey. What do their feet share?

- **1.** Webbed feet for swimming — no support
- **2.** An outer toe that can swing to the back — **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **3.** Little suckers on every toe, like an octopus — **← Mova's choice** · score -2
- **4.** Five toes on each foot — score -2

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**Why:** It took the question to ask what it is done to. It chose option 3 with score -2, tied with another option at -2 (the first shown, or the one claiming less beyond what it knows, wins). Its support: lesson 213, line 3: «Second, the warm blood going down its legs passes right next to the cold blood coming back up, and hands over its heat, so the feet stay cold and lose little h…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same property (+1). Against it: the same doer «feet» (-1); 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](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/t11/)

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### Exam question 1 · formal language · right ✓ {#e1}

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Identify the principal sense upon which the barn owl relies in order to locate concealed prey.

- **1.** Hearing, assisted by a facial disc that directs sound towards the ears — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · no support
- **2.** Touch, assisted by sensitive feathers upon the feet — no support
- **3.** Taste, assisted by a forked tongue which samples the air for traces of prey — no support
- **4.** Smell, assisted by enlarged nostrils situated above the beak — 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/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 ear tufts of the Eurasian eagle owl?

- **1.** They constitute the external ears of the bird — **← Mova's choice** · score 5
- **2.** They are sensory organs for the detection of heat — no support
- **3.** They consist solely of feathers and are not organs of hearing — **✓ the right answer** · score 2
- **4.** They are horns of bone employed in combat — no support

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**Why:** It took the question to ask who or what does it. It chose option 1 with score 5, against 2 for the next best. Its support: lesson 301, line 8: «The Eurasian eagle owl is one of the biggest owls, with wings about 1.6 to 1.9 metres across, and it can catch hares, ducks and even young foxes; its tall ear…», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same thing acted on «feathers» (+4); it fills the role the question asks for (+1). 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/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/e2/)

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

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Ascertain the reason for which the burrowing owl distributes animal dung around the entrance to its burrow.

- **1.** The dung conceals the scent of the eggs and chicks from all predators — no support
- **2.** The dung serves as food for the owl's chicks — no support
- **3.** The dung insulates the burrow against the cold of winter — no support
- **4.** The dung attracts dung beetles, which the owl subsequently consumes — **← Mova's choice** · **✓ the right answer** · score 7

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**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 301, line 12: «Burrowing owls spread animal dung around their burrows; the dung attracts dung beetles, which the owls eat, a kind of bait and tool use.», reached through the same lesson line as the sentence the question matched. What matched: the same action «attract» (+3); the same doer «dung» (+2); the same thing acted on «dung beetles» (+2). · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/e3/)

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### Exam question 4 · formal language · wrong ✗ {#e4}

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Select the response consistent with the established facts concerning the geographical distribution of owls.

- **1.** Owls occur upon every continent including Antarctica — **← Mova's choice** · score 1
- **2.** Owls occur exclusively within the continent of Europe — score 0
- **3.** Owls occur solely within tropical forests — no support
- **4.** Owls occur upon every continent with the exception of Antarctica — **✓ the right answer** · score 1

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**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 301, line 5: «There are about 250 kinds of owl, split into two families: the barn owls and the typical owls; owls live on every continent except Antarctica.», reached through the option's own match among the sentences about the question's things. What matched: the same place «continent» (+4). Against it: the same doer «owls» (-1); a different action (counts against) (-2). The right option, 4, scored 1. · [the question and its options parsed, with trees and pragmatics](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/301-owls-of-the-world-barn-owls-eagle-owls-elf-owls-and-burrowing-owls/e4/)

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