Polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers in the African elephant (Loxondonta africana) and their use in the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

Although we can count savannah elephants from the ground or air, forest elephants are difficult to see in the dense vegetation and censusing them requires using indirect methods. For our genetic characterization of African forest elephant populations, we developed a panel of microsatellite loci. Although African and Asian elephants diverged from a common ancestor approximately 5 mya (Maglio 1973), five of the six primer pairs amplify in Asian elephants. While some of the loci have less alleles in Asian than in African elephants, we believe that these loci will be useful for population studies in both species.