Here's what we know for sure:

1 Rabbit is going to the river
2 monkeys are going to the river
2 parrots are forced, by the monkeys, to go to the river

So, 5 is the total of animals going to the river

The rabbit saw 6 elephants, but did not see them go to the river, so no elephants went to the river

Every elephant saw 2 monkeys, collectively, they all saw 2 monkeys only. If 6 people are looking out, and they each see 2 monkeys, the total number of monkeys is still 2. The elephants can confirm that 2 monkeys total, were heading toward the river, but the elephants did not go.

I think it’s 25. In the first sentence “while” can only relate to the rabbit. The second sentence, on its own, is ambiguous - it’s perhaps natural to assume that all the elephants saw the same two monkeys, but it’s also possible that each elephant saw two different mokeys. The third sentence clears up the ambiguity, because “every” can only refer to three or more things - if only two, the adjective should be “each”. So the total is 1 rabbit plus 12 monkeys plus 12 parrots.

Also in the third sentence, “their” should be “its”.

I love this sort of thing, but the authors of such tests do need to be careful!

Suppose each elephant saw different pairs of monkeys?

ANSWER IS IN THE UPDATED QUESTION!!

So many ways to read this and a couple of grammatical ambiguities. It will be interesting to see the answer given and the reasoning. I say 5.

lol shcool

Either 5 or 25. It all depends on if each elephant saw a different pair of monkeys, or if all the elephants saw the same pair.

5 if the elephants weren't going to the river, which is unclear. 11 if the elephants are

I believe 5... but if you say 4 I can relate !!

Good question
All but the elephants??

9 animals plus 2 parrots (birds)

tell the teacher no, no is the answer

3
the two monkeys are primates and none of the elephants were going towards the river, that leaves the rabbit and 2 parrots

Never mind...5

5 is the answer

19

5

5 (1 rabbit, 2 monkeys and 2 parrots)