+Like many pre-intelligent creatures, both subspecies of Plain Speech Valley squirrels were highly social animals. Much of their lives concerned the sharing of information about how to survive: how to fashion simple tools for digging up nuts, the best techniques for running away from predators, what kind of hole or tree offered the best shelter, _&c._ Possession of such information was valuable, and closely guarded: squirrels would only share true secrets with their closest friends. Maneuvering to be told secrets, and occasionally to spread false secrets to rivals, was the subject of much drama and intrigue in the squirrels' lives.