It’s amazing what can be accomplished when we give each other a chance. As many of us know all too well when we recall learning a new skill, it’s pretty rare to be good at something the first time we attempt it.
But while it can certainly feel nice when a more experienced person gives us the opportunity to improve, it’s even more amazing when that patience and caring nature helps an animal recover from a seemingly hopeless brink. Not only does that say a lot about the quality of their care but it also teaches us more about what some animals are capable of.
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And right now, an impressive example of this phenomenon is coming from a pretty unlikely source.
When Elina Walsh found a two-legged huntsman spider in her home, she didn’t even recognize it at first.
As she told The Dodo, it simply seemed like a strange figure until she realized what had happened to it.
Although it remains unclear how this spider lost so many legs, she saw obvious reasons to think it wouldn’t last long without them.
While many of us would shrug our shoulders and say, “that’s life,” Walsh felt compelled to help in any way she could.
As she said , “I immediately felt sorry for her. So I decided to care for her, since she would have had trouble hunting on her own.”
She also observed that the spider had a strong will to live.
Fortunately, Walsh soon learned that Peggy the spider’s plight wasn’t as hopeless as it may have seemed.
According to Scientific American , spiders can indeed regenerate lost limbs and while that can affect their size and foraging abilities, they’re usually able to compensate for those changes within a couple of moulting periods.
But first, Peggy had to actually make it to those moulting periods so Walsh started providing her with food and water.
As Walsh wrote in reply to an Instagram comment, she spent the first weeks together hand feeding Peggy before giving her a cockroach and letting her hunt it when she regrew the other six legs.
As Walsh told The Dodo, “I don’t think spiders are capable of forming a bond but I sure feel attached to her.”
For now, Walsh is keeping Peggy at her home for a little longer until she gets strong enough to return to the wild.
As Walsh said, “It feels good knowing that I could help an animal out. And also to help educate others on these amazing creatures and show people another side to spiders they may not have seen before.”
h/t: The Dodo
