The Three Gorges region is located in the transitional zone between the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River. Within a relatively confined landscape, gorge-river waters, mountain forests, river-valley terraces, and tributary valleys intersect with one another, forming a complex ecological setting distinct from that of plain agricultural zones. This environmental configuration shaped diverse ways in which ancient communities acquired animal resources and makes archaeologically recovered faunal remains crucial evidence for examining subsistence organization, settlement selection, and environmental adaptation. Existing studies indicate that research on animal resources in the Three Gorges region has gradually shifted from descriptions of faunal assemblages and reconstructions of ecological backgrounds to more specific issues, including fish exploitation, mountain hunting, livestock husbandry, bone processing, and the microenvironmental implications of small animal remains. This article argues that animal resource use in the region should not be understood as a unilinear transition from fishing and hunting to agriculture. Rather, it constituted a long-term, composite subsistence structure in which aquatic resources, mountain resources, settlement activities, and technological practices coexisted and complemented one another. Future research should distinguish more carefully among different levels of evidence, namely “animal presence,” “environmental indication,” and “human utilization.” It should also strengthen fine-grained identification of fish remains, quantitative analysis, spatial analysis, and the integration of multiple methods, so as to deepen our understanding of resource-use mechanisms and regional social development pathways in the mountainous gorge environment.