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Elephant Social Systems: What Do We Know and How Have Molecular Tools Helped?

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Journal of the Indian Institute of Science Aims and scope

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India for funding (EMR/2017/000075), the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR; autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India) for funds and support, and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India, for a Ph.D. scholarship to T.K. Athira (09/733(0246)/2018-EMR-1). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments.

Funding

Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Government of India (EMR/2017/000075), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India for a PhD scholarship to TK Athira (09/733(0246)/2018-EMR-1), Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research (JNCASR), autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

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    T. K. Athira & T. N. C. Vidya

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Athira, T.K., Vidya, T.N.C. Elephant Social Systems: What Do We Know and How Have Molecular Tools Helped?. J Indian Inst Sci 101, 257–278 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41745-021-00226-4

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