<P> Despite the harsh conditions, these deserts and the surrounding regions sustain many animals, including black - tailed gazelles, marbled polecats, wild Bactrian camels, Mongolian wild ass and sandplovers . They are occasionally visited by snow leopards, brown bears, and wolves . Lizards are especially well - adapted to the climate of the Gobi Desert, with approximately 30 species distributed across its southern Mongolian border . The most common vegetation in the Gobi desert are shrubs adapted to drought . These shrubs included gray sparrow's saltwort (Salsola passerina), gray sagebrush, and low grasses such as needle grass and bridlegrass . Due to livestock grazing, the amount of shrubs in the desert has decreased . Several large nature reserves have been established in the Gobi, including Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park, Great Gobi A and Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area . </P> <P> The area is vulnerable to trampling by livestock and off - road vehicles (effects from human intervention are greater in the eastern Gobi Desert, where rainfall is heavier and may sustain livestock). In Mongolia, grasslands have been degraded by goats, which are raised by nomadic herders as source of cashmere wool . </P> <P> Large copper deposits are being mined by Rio Tinto Group . The mine was and remains controversial . There was significant opposition in Mongolia's parliament to the terms under which the mine will proceed, and some are calling for the terms to be renegotiated . Specifically, the contention revolves primarily around the question of whether negotiations were fair (Rio Tinto is far better resourced) and whether Rio Tinto will pay adequate taxes on the revenues it derives from the mine (an agreement was reached whereby the operation will be exempt from windfall tax . </P> <P> The Gobi Desert is expanding at an alarming rate, in a process known as desertification . The expansion is particularly rapid on the southern edge into China, which has seen 3,600 km (1,390 sq mi) of grassland overtaken every year by the Gobi Desert . Dust storms, which used to occur regularly in China, have increased in frequency in the past 20 years, mainly due to desertification . They have caused further damage to China's agriculture economy . </P>

The gobi desert sub-region is much more densely populated than the taklamakan desert sub-region