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[00:01.78]The culture of veneration and protection extends right across Tibet
[00:06.89]helping to preserve a unique yet fragile ecosystem
[00:17.62]Out on the plateau there's a small creature that's at the root of much of the grasslands' delicate ecology
[00:25.46]Despite summer snow storms, the pika, a relative of rabbits and hares
[00:30.47]is perpetually eating and gathering grass
[00:33.60]and digging burrows for its family
[00:39.99]The pika's constant excavations aerate the soil,which helps the plants to grow
[00:50.19]In the short summer
[00:51.11]the landscape is carpeted with hardy grasses and decorated with endemic flowers
[01:20.10]In such a frugal environment
[01:22.37]the pika's farming helps to kickstart the food chain
[01:26.56]But the pika itself is a very tasty morsel
[01:31.79]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