To the north, the Bajío dry forests transition to the drier, more temperate Central Mexican matorral.

Native mammals include Mexican wolf (Canus lupus baileyi) and pocketed free-tailed bat (Nyctinomops femorosaccus).

Birds include the black-throated magpie-jay (Calocitta colliei), thick-billed kingbird (Tyrannus crassirostris), whiskered screech owl (Otus trichopsus), orange-fronted parakeet (Aratinga caniculanis), dwarf vireo (Vireo nelsoni), and black-polled yellowthroat (Geothlypis speciosa).

[2] The ecoregion is densely populated, and centuries of human use have reduced the dry forests to small pockets.

Dry deciduous forest used to be the dominant vegetation, but thorn scrub and subtropical matorral are now more common, interspersed with agricultural and pasture lands.