Easy to tame and displaying great ability to capture rodents, the Arabs often kept them as pets, in order to have them exterminate home infestations of mice and rats (a common occurrence in those times). In fact, the Berber villages of the Maghreb still hold this tradition to this day. During that era, many of these carnivores managed to escape captivity, taking to life in the wilderness and spreading over the Peninsula. Their remarkable ability to adapt and their innate opportunism helped them to settle in every ecosystem across the country, including this region, where (despite their limited tolerance to cold temperatures and the limitations imposed by the snow) they still dwell in the forests and mountains.