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Ashley D'Souza on Muck Rack

Ashley D'Souza

(They/Them)
Boston
As seen in: MSN España, The Independent (UK), The Washington Post, Yahoo Canada, Associated Press, The Toronto Star, Chron, Smithsonian Magazine, The Seattle Times, CT Insider and
Covers:  Wildlife, conservation, climate change, environment, science, health, LGTBQ+

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Ashley D'Souza’s Biography

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Journalist, photographer, bird enthusiast. Covering environment, health, and LGBTQ+ arts and culture.

Ashley D'Souza’s Journalist Portfolio

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Sounds from a mini-forest

Sounds from a mini-forest

Audio journalism story about the science behind Miyawaki mini-forests and a mini-forest planting event in Bro…

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Lessons From Nature on Surviving Political Upheaval

Lessons From Nature on Surviving Political Upheaval

As a queer person doing their best to survive the past few months of political chaos, I’ve often turned to na…

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Bees Check Into Hotels On Farms In New Conservation Project

Bees Check Into Hotels On Farms In New Conservation Project

This summer, the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) launched a pilot program to study cavity-nesting bees to…

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What to know about bird flu in Brookline

What to know about bird flu in Brookline

Since the beginning of the U.S. outbreak in January 2022, bird flu has been found in approximately 12,000 wil…

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Is Brookline's fight against rats putting other wildlife at risk?

Is Brookline's fight against rats putting other wildlife at risk?

As the town and residents try to combat Brookline's continued rodent problem - which includes a recent instan…

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Brookline's turkeys, explained

Brookline's turkeys, explained

Wild turkeys: they roam sidewalks alongside Brookline residents, graze in backyards and are so ubiquitous tha…

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Articles

Meet the Spatula-Nosed Fish Whose Anatomy Has Hardly Changed Since the Cretaceous

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By Ashley D'Souza
| Smithsonian Magazine Verified
The National Museum of Natural History’s new exhibition “From These Lands” features an American paddlefish, the last surviving species of an ancient lineage of fishes that predates dinosaurs The American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula) looks nothing like how you might picture a typical fish. With a long, flat nose making up much of its up to seven-foot body length, a gaping, gill-filled mouth and a skeleton made of cartilage, the enormous fish is reminiscent of something out of a sci-fi movie.
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Meet the Museum Scientist Studying Modern Birds and Fossils to Understand How Ancient Avians Took Flight

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By Ashley D'Souza
| Smithsonian Magazine Verified
Smithsonian researcher Klara Widrig studies living birds to build 3D models of their ancestors’ anatomies, uncovering how flight evolved It’s not easy to fly. Bird flight is a complex and energy-intensive activity, and flight muscles can take up almost a quarter of a bird’s body mass.
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Who Has Opposable Thumbs and a Prehensile Tail? This Tree Rat That Few Have Ever Seen

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By Ashley D'Souza
| Smithsonian Magazine Verified
After sequencing the DNA of the world’s only Emmons’s tree rat specimen, museum scientists have returned to the Bornean forest to learn more about the mysterious rodent For many, the mere mention of rats conjures up images of rodents scurrying around on the ground, darting across city sidewalks and subway tracks at night. But learning about some of the world’s more elusive rats requires a look upward.
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Interview

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What was your first job as a journalist?

Covering a community event in a park for Brookline Hub.

What tools and software do you use to do your job?

Google Drive, Otter.AI, Sony RX10 IV, Photoscape X

Why did you become a journalist?

To contribute to conservation by inviting people, through reporting and photography, to form personal relationships with nature.