Thursday, March 01, 2007

Home of Alfred Wallace of Wallace Bay fame in Tawau?

Tawau: An abandoned colonial house at a secluded area close to the beach in Wallace Bay generated much interest from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) researchers during a scientific expedition on Sebatik Island near here from Feb. 21-26

The reason: The house is called the Wallace House and is situated at Wallace Bay, which may have to do with the supposed father of bio-geography and naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), said UMS Vice Chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Mohd Noh Dalimin.

Further research, however, is needed to determine whether Wallace ever stayed in the house during his exploration to this part of the region circa 1854, which eventually led to his theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.

According to Prof. Mohd Noh, the Englishman discovered a dividing line extending northward between Borneo and Sulawesi separating two zoo-geographic regions, the Asian and Australasian, and the line was named as the Wallace Line.

Continue reading (incl. pic) at: Home of Alfred Wallace of Wallace Bay fame in Tawau?

No comments: