European Animals France

France is a large Western European country. It shares its borders with the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Atlantic Ocean, the English Channel, and the Mediterranean Sea. The country has forests, plains, hills, and several mountain ranges among them the Pyrenees and the Alps.

Official National Animal

Gallic rooster

France has eleven national parks:

The Pyrenees National Park is located near the border with Spain.

This mountainous area includes wildlife like minks, bears, golden eagles, vultures, and frogs.

The Landes de Gascogne Regional National Park has pine forests, wetlands, and coastlines.

Here you can find over 300 migrating birds among them godwits, spoonbills, pintails, and graylag geese.

The Mercantour National Park is located north of Nice in the Alpes de Haute Provence.

Wild animals making their home here are wild boar, rock ptarmigans, nutcracker birds, and bearded vultures.

The Armorique Natural Regional Park is a protected area in Brittany extending from the Atlantic Ocean coast to the hilly rural interior.

Here you can find beavers, otters, and various kinds of birds of prey.

Animal Native to France

Alpine marmots are a large species of squirrels that are native to Central and Southern Europe.

European badgers are a species of badger that are native to all of Europe and the Middle East. Since they are nocturnal they sleep through the day.

Pyrenees ibex are a species that is endemic to the Pyrenees.

Wild boars are common wild pigs widespread in Europe.

European rabbits are also referred to as coneys. They are native to Western France, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Northern Atlas Mountains.

European hedgehogs are native to Europe from Italy to the Iberian Peninsula and to the northern Scandinavian countries.

Common genets are small species that are native to Southwestern Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. They’re active at dusk and during the night.

Red foxes are one of the most widespread species of carnivores on Earth.

Eurasian wolves are a subspecies of the well-known gray wolf native to Europe. Due to Eurasian mythology, they are seen as the lords of all animals and the only ones who have power against evil.

Eurasian brown bears are the most common subspecies of brown bears. In culture, they are frequently in fables and fairy tales. They can be wandering almost anywhere.

Birds

White storks are a species of large birds native to Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Golden eagles are a species of birds of prey native to a great deal of the Northern Hemisphere.

Western barn owls are one of the subspecies of barn owls the most widespread species of owl. They are native to Eurasia and Africa and are nocturnal.

Peregrine falcons are a large species of birds of prey native to the Northern Hemisphere. These birds are magnificent to look at.

Common ravens are a species of raven native to almost all of the Northern Hemisphere.

Marine Animals

Eurasian beavers are found in most areas of Europe. They live around water sources.

Eurasian otters are a species of semi-aquatic mammals native to Eurasia.

Ospreys are birds of prey known for fish-eating and live in habitats by bodies of water.

Leatherback sea turtles are the most impressive species of turtles in the world, They are the largest of their species and the heaviest non-crocodilian reptiles.

Fin whales are a species of cetacean native to every ocean on the planet.

Mediterranean monk seals are a species of seal that unfortunately are very endangered.

Short-finned pilot whales are a species of whales native to temperate and tropical oceans.

Endangered Species

European rabbit

Mehely’s Horseshoe bat

Pyrenean Desman related to moles and shrews

Iberian Lynx