Prehistoric Camels Once Roamed the Hanford Barrens
University of Washington experts confirm that fossilized remains found near Hanford belong to a species of camel that occupied the region 600,000 years ago.
That this section of the Northwest was once the habitat of the camel has been established by the finding of fossilized remains between the lava flows near Hanford. Experts of the University of Washington declared, after a study of the find, that the bone was the lower part of the fore leg of a camel. It is estimated that the animal lived in this section of the country 600,000 years ago.
“Experts of the University of Washington declared, after a study of the find, that the bone was the lower part of the fore leg of a camel.”
The Hanford area, now famously associated with 20th-century nuclear industrial history and land-use restrictions, holds a much deeper geological history that predates human presence entirely. This finding highlights how the region's unique basalt formations serve as a time capsule for prehistoric life.
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