Douro International is a cross-border mountainous region located between northeast Portugal
and northwest Spain (see Figure 1). The Portuguese side is one of the most remote
regions of the country. It has a diversity of natural, semi-natural habitats, and humanized
landscapes, which are important repositories of biodiversity and cultural heritage. Indeed,
this region has a high floristic importance (Carvalho & Frazão-Moreira, 2011) and is one
of the most important areas for fauna within Portuguese, Iberian and European contexts.
The region’s wild vertebrate fauna comprises 238 species, including 28 mammals, 168
birds, 17 reptiles, 11 amphibians and 14 fish. Concerning birds, this region is one of the
most important European nesting habitat for rupicolous birds, such as the following
endangered species: Griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus),
Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), Bonelli’s eagle (Hieraaetus fasciatus) and Black
stork (Ciconia nigra) (Monteiro, 2011; Van Beest, Van Den Bremer, De Boer, Heitkönig,
& Monteiro, 2008). Agriculture (traditional production of wine, olives, almonds, wheat
and rye) and extensive livestock, mainly with regional breeds well adapted to local ecological
conditions (e.g. sheep breed ‘churra galega mirandesa’, goat breed ‘Serrana ecotype
transmontano’ and to a lesser extent, the cow breed ‘mirandesa’) play a relevant role in
economic-productive terms, for their organic-like quality, contributing to a sustainable
use of natural resources and maintenance of rural landscaping (Rodrigues, Cadavez, &
Teixeira, 2006; Sousa et al., 2018). The highly threatened donkey breed, Asinina de
Miranda, is still part of the agricultural heritage. Although, it is currently less used in transport
and traction. Today, this breed is increasingly used as a companion animal and in
ecotourism activities (Quaresma, Martins, Rodrigues, Colaço, & Payan-Carreira, 2014).
