Kiiinda. They had their own language, not Common but it sounded like... [He makes a little chittering sound, which is basically hello in the animal language they learned.] We landed on this planet full of smart as hell animals, and all of 'em were pretty scared of us cause they'd never seen people. But the mongooses knew they could mess us up if we tried anything, so they talked to us first.

[Annnnd they all died :(

But he'll leave that part of the story out.]