Group size differences may mask underlying similarities in social structure: a comparison of female elephant societies

Abstract

We studied the social structure of female Asian elephants in southern India and compared it with those of a Sri Lankan population and an African savannah elephant population. While there were social differences between the Asian and African populations using previous methods, all 3 populations showed basic similarities using a newer network method. The discrepancy across analyses partly stemmed from differences in average group size between populations, which variously affected different association and network statistics.