Re: Is a Social animal the same as a animal that travels in a pack.

Sounds like a great conversation -- I love thinking about stuff like 
this.  As with many things in biology, it's hard to define "right."  There 
are lots of ways to look at every situation.

Like you say, social animals are interdependent and create bonds, 
while "pack" typically refers to a style of cooperative hunting.  So many 
pack animals are indeed social, and many social animals hunt in packs, but 
it's not an even-steven deal.

For example, some pack animals only come together for hunting.  They spend 
the rest of their time hanging out alone, or in small groups that don't 
quite meet the definition of "social" groups.  Catfish are described as 
pack hunters, but we don't tend to think of them as being particularly 
social animals.  By contrast, iguanas, which are vegetarians (therefore 
not hunters and by association, not pack animals), are semi-social, 
meaning that they tend to gather together in groups of animals of similar 
size and age.  These groupings help protect individuals from predators, 
and keep the bullying from bigger/older iguanas to a minimum.
(see http://www.geocities.co
m/lflank/ecology.html for lots more cool 
information on iguana social dynamics)

To make matters more confusing, sometimes animals of the same species 
utilize different social strategies.  About 70% of all coyotes hunt in 
packs, while 17% work and live as pairs (these pairs are mates), and then 
13% travel alone and are called "transient individuals."  If times get 
rough and there isn't enough food to go around, the pack may kick out 
individual coyotes, forcing them into transience.  So although coyotes are 
typically described as social, pack animals, sometimes they adapt a 
solitary lifestyle.

Read more about coyote dynamics here:  http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2004/holmb
erg/Holm
berg4.html

Like iguanas, many social animals are herbivorous, so they don't hunt at 
all, and therefore wouldn't be described as pack animals.  Lots of leaf-
eating monkeys fit this description.  They hang out together and share the 
load of caring for young, foraging, etc., so they're social, but they 
don't hunt in a pack.  

So neither of you is more right than the other, but I hope you keep 
getting in these kinds of debates -- it's good exercise!

Take care,
Ruth