Data from: Relatedness and demography of African forest elephants: inferences from noninvasive fecal DNA analyses

African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are genetically and
morphologically distinct from their savannah counterparts, but their
biology remains poorly understood. In this study, I use noninvasive fecal
DNA analyses to examine the relatedness structure and historical
demography of forest elephants at two sites in SW Gabon, central Africa.
Pairwise relatedness values calculated between 162 elephant individuals
genotyped at eight microsatellite loci were significantly higher within
spatially associated dung piles than between random pairings for one site.
First- and second-order relatives were most commonly detected among dung
piles from adult female pairs and adult females and juveniles. Pairwise
relatedness estimates suggested that, like savannah elephants, forest
groups are largely composed of adult females, their sisters, and juvenile
offspring. Associations between males, and groups containing juveniles
from multiple related females, were detected but at much lower frequency.
Analysis of mitochondrial d-loop sequences from 70 elephant individuals
identified two haplogroups in SW Gabon.