Analysing the distribution of vertebrates, there are in the Basque Country numerous areas of interest in terms of fauna, but coincide in general with mountainous zones that are scarcely inhabited by human beings and have important forest masses, mainly of broadleaved species.

Other spaces of interest for fauna, mainly because of the presence of threatened species (fish, amphibians, otters, European minks, Pyrenean desmans, etc.), our rivers and streams. The most important, in this sense, are: Ebro, Baias and Zadorra, in Alava and Leitzaran in Gipuzkoa.

The Laguardia lagoons and the Zadorra reservoirs (Alava) and the Txingudi marshes (Gipuzkoa) and the Urdaibai Biosphere Reservation (Biskaia) are wet ecosystems of considerable interest as places in which to spend winter and for the nesting of migrating birds.

In 1998 the detailed study on the "Situation of Continental Vertebrates in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country", that includes individual index cards on all those species of Continental vertebrates with a currently known presence in the Basque Country.

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