A veritable buffet of nonhuman intelligence.

At first, Pax's wilderness seems like any on Earth; full of dumb animals and plants for humans to dominate. These humans intend to work harmoniously with their wilderness but still expect to be on top of the pyramid. They also call everything by Earth names - eagles, lions, crabs, bamboo, coral, pineapples, and more. It's only in passing remarks that the reader can piece together the fact that these creatures are far more intelligent than their Earth counterparts. Pax eagles cook their food over fires, Pax crabs have a trade network, and Pax plants - one particular plant stands beside humanity as the main character of the entire book. Various characters remark that Pax is older than Earth so its life has had more time to evolve. This book is an exploration of different flavours of intelligence that may be out there (or even here, on Earth, if we don't choke them out before they too, have time to evolve) and what it might take for such intelligences to not only coexist but learn from each other. None of the big three intelligent species in this book are left untouched by the others, nor unharmed. The balance is terrifyingly fragile and the balancers resist characterisation as simply heroes or villains. 

This is a story of an imperfect quest at a societal level to create and maintain some 'mutualism', as they call it, under which all can thrive. There's a few strands of Asimov's first Foundation book in its DNA too - another scrappy people with a money-where-their-mouth-is dedication to the idea that "violence is the last refuge of the incompetent", though these settlers have more help and encounter more friction in executing their plans.