Today’s Episode Of Lunch Hour Amateur Biologist Brought To You By…

I always make a point during a morning break in the action to go out into the backyard and check on the tortoise — just to make sure she’s her usual tortoise self. On this morning, passing the birdbath on my way to Buster’s hutch, I sighted a spider flailing a bit in the water, but when I went to rescue it I found it wasn’t in the water, it was actually on the water and relatively comfortable walking around on the surface. That’s right: walking around.

Perhaps professional and/or experienced arachnologists and animalogists might shrug unimpressed at what is a common sight to them, but it’s not to me, and it raised the amazement level I already hold for jumping spiders to an entirely new level. And of course I grabbed my cam to capture the action and consequently go all backyard Richard Attenborough for yerass. The difference between me and the real Attenborough being that I have no idea what I’m talking about: