Claiming a reference animal someone created for you

Someone may build a reference profile for an animal you own, for example a breeder recording one of your animals in a pedigree, and invite you to take it over. Or you might come across a reference profile of your own animal. Claiming turns that reference into a real animal on your roster. This article is the claimer's side.

What claiming does

When your claim goes through, the reference becomes a real animal that you own: you become its owner, you start following it automatically, and the reference badge clears. From then on it is a normal animal on your account, with all the tabs and tools an owned animal has.

Two paths, depending on whether you were invited

How fast this happens depends on one thing: whether the person who made the reference invited you.

You were invited (instant)

• How you get there: open the claim form from the invitation email link or from the in-app notification (the profile opens the claim sheet for you).
• What you do: confirm and adjust the details carried over from the reference, the name, handle, breed, color, sex, dates, privacy, photo, and the pedigree, then submit. Your email must match the one the invite was sent to.
• What happens: the claim is applied immediately. The reference becomes owned by you (or your organization), any pending invites on it close, and a welcome post goes out. The implication: there is no waiting and no review when you were invited.

You were not invited (admin review)

• How you get there: you found a reference profile of your animal and started a claim without an invitation.
• What happens first: Creatures creates a private draft copy that only you can see while it is reviewed, and opens a claim with a status of pending for a person at Creatures to review. The implication: the original reference does not change hands yet, and your draft is a private working copy, visible to you because it is an unapproved draft under review, not because you marked it private.
• On approval: your draft merges into the reference, so the photos, records, pedigree, and ownership all transfer to you, and any other pending claims on that animal are automatically rejected. The implication: once approved, it is fully yours.
• On rejection: you are given the reason, and the draft is removed. The implication: nothing is left half-claimed.
• Why it works this way: the review protects animals from being claimed by the wrong person. The implication: expect a short wait and a notification, rather than the animal appearing on your roster the instant you submit.

Claiming for an organization, or as a new user

• On behalf of an org: you can claim a reference into an organization you manage, so the animal lands under the business rather than your personal profile.
• As a brand-new user: if you are not signed in, you can create an account inline as part of claiming, verifying yourself with a magic link sent to your email, and the claim proceeds from there.

For completeness, there is also a shortcut worth knowing: if the person who created the reference claims their own reference, that self-claim auto-approves instantly. To create a reference animal and invite its owner in the first place, see Reference animals: documenting lineage and inviting the owner. To add an animal you own directly (rather than claiming a reference), see Adding an animal to Creatures.

Related information

• Reference animals: documenting lineage and inviting the owner
• Adding an animal to Creatures

Updated on: 23/06/2026