It is believed that the domestication of the cat took place in the fourth millennium BC In Egypt. Before becoming a domestic animal, appreciated for its gentleness, grace and nonchalance, the cat is above all a protective animal. A small predator that hunts rodents, it protects the grain silos where the Egyptians stored their crops (especially wheat), an important resource for these farmers. By hunting rats and other rodents, cats also eliminate carriers of serious communicable diseases such as plague. By hunting snakes, especially horned vipers, the environment of houses on its territory becomes safer.