section_path: Ecology/Diet
section_name: Diet
paragraph_text: Diet
  
  Dogs are typically described as omnivores. Compared to wolves, dogs from agricultural societies have extra copies of amylase and other genes involved in starch digestion that contribute to an increased ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet. Similar to humans, some dog breeds produce amylase in their saliva and are classified as having a high-starch diet. However, more like cats and less like other omnivores, dogs can only produce bile acid with taurine, and they cannot produce vitamin D, which they obtain from animal flesh.
  
  Of the twenty-one amino acids common to all life forms (including selenocysteine), dogs cannot synthesize ten: arginine, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Like cats, dogs require arginine to maintain nitrogen balance. These nutritional requirements place dogs halfway between carnivores and omnivores.