  Indian free ranging dogs live in a carbohydrate rich environment as
scavengers in and around human settlements. They rarely hunt and consequently
do not encounter rich sources of protein. Instead they have adapted to a diet
of primarily carbohydrates. As descendants of the exclusively carnivorous
wolves, they are subjected to the evolutionary load of a physiological demand
for proteins. To meet their protein needs they resort to a thumb rule, if it
smells like meat, eat it. Pups face high competition from group and non group
members and are in a phase of rapid growth with high protein demands. Following
the thumb rule, then they can acquire more protein at the cost of increased
competition and reduced supplementary non protein nutrition. However, if the
mother supplements their diet with protein rich regurgitates and milk, then the
pups can benefit by being generalists. Using a choice test in the field we show
that while adults have a clear preference for meat, pups have no such
preference, and they even eat degraded protein eagerly. Thus the thumb rule
used by adult dogs for efficient scavenging is not innate, and needs to be
learned. The thumb rule might be acquired by cultural transmission, through
exposure to meat in the regurgitate of the mother, or while accompanying her on
foraging trips.
