Harrisburg University professor discovers and names a 5-million-year-old “horned” turtle

• Aniya Faulcon
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  Aniya Faulcon is The Spark Host/Producer for WITF. She has a passion for shining a light on unique people, experiences, and perspectives within the community.
  
  Previously she worked as the People and Social Trends Reporter/Video Anchor for LancasterOnline | LNPNews. During her time there, she created video packages, provided Facebook Live coverage at community events, and wrote data-driven stories with census data and feature stories on local leaders, non-profit organizations, events, and people with unique talents and experiences within Lancaster County.
  
  Aniya also worked at WMAR ABC 2 News as a Sales Assistant and at the AFRO American Newspapers as an Executive Assistant and Media correspondent. Aniya interned at WEAA Gospel Grace 88.9 and worked at her alma mater’s radio station, WWPJ at Point Park University, where she gained skills and a passion for radio.
  
  Aniya grew up in Baltimore, Maryland and attended the Baltimore School for the arts for high school with a concentration in acting. She continued to hone her skills and passion for storytelling and later graduated from Point Park University in 2018 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and Broadcast Reporting. Aniya is eager to continue her journey with storytelling in her role with WITF, as she aims to shed a light on real people and real stories within Pennsylvania in a variety of mediums.

 Sergey Krasovskiy

The horned turtle or Chrysemys Corniculata

Airdate: January 17, 2023

A Harrisburg University of Science and Technology professor discovered and named a 5-million-year-old “horned” turtle that’s extinct and is entirely new to science.

Dr. Steven Jasinski, environmental sciences and sustainability professor, joined us on The Spark Tuesday to share how he discovered the fossil species of the horned turtle, his passion behind his work, and what his discovery will mean for the world of science.

Jasinski said, he found fossils of the horned turtle at the Gray Fossil Site, which preserves a five-million-year-old ecosystem that was home to tapirs, rhinos, red pandas, and many more extinct species. One of the most common fossil animals found at the site are turtles.

From his research, he said, he knew what he found was different than anything that was discovered before.

The fossil has been identified as a long-extinct member of the horned painted turtle family. The horned turtle, which Dr. Jansinki named Chrysemys Corniculata, has a pair of “point projections” that grow out of the front edge of their shells.

Jasinski said, climate change is one of the main reasons the horned turtle is extinct today and why many other turtle species are endangered. He hopes his discovery will be another call to be proactive with turtle conservation rather than reactive. On the bright side, this new discovery will help scientists to unravel the ancient history of these reptiles.

Not only is this discovery a win for the world of science but its also a win for Harrisburg University.

“I think, if nothing else, part of what we get for Harrisburg University in particular, is it helps expand the profile and show that Harrisburg University, the professors within it and the individuals are conducting research that are helping push these scientific narratives and the idea of this information much further,” Jasinski said. “Oftentimes what I hope is that it also expands the interests of the students. Even if they don’t want to do the exact same research, if it helps expand that interest and allows them to think about that moving forward in whatever they do, I think that’s a win.”