Happy Alfred Russel Wallace Day---the other guy who discovered evolution through natural selection! Arguably my favorite of all naturalists (Sorry, Darwin!). This beautiful bird, on display @fieldmuseum's Specimens Exhibition, was one of 126,000 specimens collected by Wallace in 1859 during his eight year expedition through the Malay Archipelago. (I totally didn't cry at all when I saw this.) While exploring the archipelago, he refined his thoughts about evolution and had his famous insight on natural selection. In 1858, he sent an article outlining his theory to Darwin. It was published, along with a description of Darwin's own theory, in the same year. British naturalist, biologist, explorer, geographer, (and feminist!) his work prompted Darwin to publish his own ideas of evolution by natural selection in On the Origin of Species in 1859. Happy #alfredrusselwallace Day! #nature #naturalist #evolution #naturalselection #themalayarchipelago #indonesia #malaysia #nathist #naturalhistory #museum #fieldmuseum #chicago #ilovemuseums #studyskin #bird #museumcollections #collection #science #biology #biologist #otd #specimen (at The Field Museum)
