We review studies of the social systems of the living elephants—the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana), and African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Social systems include social organisation, the way relationships are structured, and the mating system; we describe each of these in turn, drawing from long-term observational studies and studies based on indirect methods in more inaccessible populations. Male and female elephants exhibit different adult lifestyles: females live in fission–fusion societies, whereas males disperse from their natal groups and subsequently associate with other males and females only temporarily. Associations and dominance relationships among females and among males may be complex and structured by factors such as genetic relatedness and relative ages. Elephants are polygynous and males compete amongst themselves for access to females. The outcome of such competition may be shaped by musth (a rut-like phenomenon) and age. Molecular markers have been used to understand aspects of social structure and mating system in some populations; we point to these studies and discuss further avenues of research. We also comment on how anthropogenic activities affect social systems, and the relevance of studying social systems in the context of conservation.

我们回顾了对现存大象社会系统的研究——亚洲象 ( Elephas maximus )、非洲大草原象 ( Loxodonta Africana ) 和非洲森林象 ( Loxodonta cyclotis）。社会系统包括社会组织、关系的构建方式和交配系统；我们依次描述了其中的每一个，这些研究来自长期观察性研究和基于间接方法在更难以接近的人群中进行的研究。雄性和雌性大象表现出不同的成年生活方式：雌性生活在裂变融合社会中，而雄性则从他们的出生群体中分散开来，随后仅与其他雄性和雌性暂时交往。女性和男性之间的关联和优势关系可能是复杂的，并且由遗传相关性和相对年龄等因素构成。大象是一夫多妻的，雄性为了接近雌性而相互竞争。这种竞争的结果可能受musth（一种类似车辙的现象）和年龄的影响。分子标记已被用于了解某些种群的社会结构和交配系统的各个方面；我们指出这些研究并讨论进一步的研究途径。我们还评论人为活动如何影响社会系统，以及在保护背景下研究社会系统的相关性。