Add an animal by importing its pedigree
Add an animal by importing its pedigree
If you have a pedigree chart for an animal, a registry certificate, a breeder's printout, or a photo of one, you can add that animal to Creatures straight from it. Creatures reads the chart, drafts the animal and its ancestors for you, and lets you review everything before a single profile is created. It is the fastest way to add one animal when the pedigree is what you have in hand.
This is the single-animal path. To bring in many animals at once (several pedigrees, a spreadsheet, a website, or an export from other software), use the bulk Importing your animals tool instead.
Start from Add Animal
Open Add animal (from the sidebar shortcut or the header menu). The form offers two ways to add an animal:
- Enter details manually, the standard form covered in How to add animals to your profile.
- Add by importing a pedigree, the path this article is about.
Choose Add by importing a pedigree and the Import a pedigree panel appears.
Give it one pedigree document:
- Choose a PDF or photo: upload a single pedigree file (a PDF or an image), up to 5 MB.
- Use your phone: scan the code to send a pedigree photo or PDF straight from your phone's camera, handy when the pedigree is on paper in front of you.
You add one pedigree here, not a stack; this path is built around a single chart. Select Review pedigree once your file is attached.
Creatures reads the chart, then you review it
Creatures reads the pedigree and drafts the subject animal (the animal the pedigree is for) together with every ancestor it can find on the chart, then opens the review screen. Nothing is saved yet, exactly as with the bulk importer: you are looking at drafts.
Pick which animal on the pedigree is yours
Because a pedigree names many animals, Creatures asks the one question that matters: "Which animal on this pedigree is yours?" Pick the subject animal, and Creatures makes that profile yours while keeping the rest as ancestors (lineage only reference profiles that connect the pedigree without claiming you own them). See How to create a reference animal profile for what a reference profile is.
If you already have that animal on Creatures, Creatures notices and offers a choice instead: add this pedigree's ancestors to the profile you already own, or create a separate new profile for it. That way importing a pedigree fills in the lineage on an animal you already keep, rather than making a duplicate.
Check the animal and its ancestors
From here the review works just like the main importer: edit the subject animal's details, and resolve each ancestor (link one you already have, link another animal on the same chart, or create a new reference profile). The full step-by-step, including the per-ancestor resolution control, lives in Reviewing, editing, and confirming an import. When everything looks right, confirm, and Creatures creates the subject animal (owned by you) plus the reference-profile ancestors and the pedigree links between them. As with any import, you have a 72-hour window to undo it.
No account yet? Start anyway, then claim it
You do not need an account to begin. You can upload a pedigree, watch Creatures read it, and review the drafted animal and ancestors while signed out. When you are ready to keep it, Creatures shows a Create a free account to save this pedigree step:
- Enter your first name, last name, and email, and Creatures emails you a link to verify and save the pedigree, or
- Continue with Google or Continue with Facebook to save it in one step.
Once you verify, the pedigree you just reviewed, the subject animal and its ancestors, is claimed to your new account and saved. Nothing is stored to a profile until you create the account, so you see exactly what you are getting before you sign up.
For adding animals another way, see How to add animals to your profile. For how the imported lineage then reads on each animal, see Pedigree, family, and lineage.
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Updated on: 07/07/2026
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