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[ti:20听力] |
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[ar:] |
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[al:] |
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[offset:3] |
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The culture of veneration and protection extends right across Tibet |
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helping to preserve a unique yet fragile ecosystem |
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Out on the plateau there's a small creature that's at the root of much of the grasslands' delicate ecology |
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Despite summer snow storms, the pika, a relative of rabbits and hares |
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is perpetually eating and gathering grass |
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and digging burrows for its family |
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The pika's constant excavations aerate the soil,which helps the plants to grow |
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In the short summer |
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the landscape is carpeted with hardy grasses and decorated with endemic flowers |
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In such a frugal environment |
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the pika's farming helps to kickstart the food chain |
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But the pika itself is a very tasty morsel |
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Its presence has enabled an uneasy relationship to develop between two of the plateau's most opportunistic predators |
| [01:40.59] |
the fox and the bear |
