Pedigree, family, and lineage

Pedigree on Creatures is the family tree of an animal: who its parents are, who its offspring are, and how that lineage connects across the herdbook. This article covers how you record family, where the graph lives, how others can suggest a parent, and the one thing people often look for here that actually lives elsewhere: registrations.

What a pedigree is here

A pedigree is built from three relationships on the animal:

• Sire: the father. A sire must be male.
• Dam: the mother. A dam must be female.
• Offspring: the animal's children.

These are stored on the animal, and one rule holds across every place you edit them: no circular pedigrees. An offspring cannot also be the sire or dam, and an animal cannot be its own parent. The implication: the tree always points one way, from ancestors down to descendants.

Adding family on creation, or later

You can record family two ways, and you are never locked out of doing it later:

• On the Add-an-animal form: set the sire, dam, or offspring as you create the animal.
• From Edit pedigree: open /animal/{handle}/edit_pedigree anytime afterward (owner or co-owner only) and add or change them. Linking an offspring back-fills the empty parent slot on each child automatically, matched by the parent's sex. The implication: you can build the tree from either end, starting from a parent or from a child, and Creatures keeps both sides consistent.

The Pedigree tab (the graph)

The Pedigree tab (/animal/{handle}/pedigree) shows the rendered, multi-generation ancestry graph, visible to anyone who can see the animal, whether or not any family has been recorded yet. The animal you are viewing sits at the near edge, and its ancestors branch out from there, each parent joined to its child by a line. The graph loads from the animal's pedigree.json feed. On a public animal that is the same public lineage that feeds the herdbook, and the chart is headed Public pedigree: what you see is exactly what the public pedigree holds. On a private animal you have access to, the heading reads Pedigree visible to you, and the chart shows the lineage your access allows instead of a public view.

How many generations to show

The Ancestors control is a stepper: minus and plus buttons around a generation count you can also type. It opens at the depth your recorded pedigree actually reaches (up to five generations), and there is no fixed ceiling: a deep pedigree can be walked as far as it goes.

• What each value means: 1 shows only the parents, 2 adds the grandparents, and so on, one generation per step. On a very large tree Creatures limits how many family positions draw at once to stay responsive, and a boundary animal then carries a More ancestors chip that continues from exactly that branch.
• The implication: a higher number shows more of the lineage but packs the cards tighter, so pick the depth that answers your question. Four generations is the usual working view; drop to 2 or 3 to read the near family clearly, raise it to survey a deep pedigree.

Moving around the chart

A small toolbar over the graph holds the view controls, and the graph also responds to normal gestures:

• Zoom in and Zoom out: the plus and minus buttons step the zoom. On a computer you can also zoom with the scroll wheel, and on a touch screen you can pinch with two fingers or double-tap an empty part of the chart to zoom in on that spot. Drag anywhere on the background to pan.
• Center subject: re-centers the view on the animal whose pedigree this is, handy after you have panned away.
• Fit pedigree: scales the whole tree to fit the space, so you can see the entire visible pedigree at once.
• Replay: replays the short animation that draws the tree in, a way to re-watch the lineage build.
• The implication: these are view-only controls, so nothing here changes the pedigree, only how you look at it.

Exploring the lineage

You can walk an ancestry as deep as it goes without leaving the page:

• Continue into an ancestor: when a branch has more ancestors than the current depth is showing, its card carries a small chevron labeled "Show [name]'s own pedigree". Selecting it re-roots the chart on that ancestor, so its own tree fills the view.
• The exploration trail: as you dig in, a row of breadcrumbs builds across the top, each a "Back to [name]" step, ending in the animal you are now centered on. Select any crumb to jump back to that point.
• Return to profile subject: a one-tap way back to the animal whose profile you started from, however deep you wandered.
• Set as subject: open any animal's card for its details and choose Set as subject to re-root the chart on it.
• The implication: the pedigree is a map you can travel, and you can always retrace your steps, so exploring an ancestor's line never loses your place.

The full-screen view (Wide View, or "Explore full pedigree")

The Wide View control expands the chart onto a larger stage. On a phone it takes over the full screen, and the very first time you open a pedigree the control is labeled "Explore full pedigree" as a one-time invitation. Select it again ("Exit Wide View") to return to the normal tab. The implication: a big or deep tree is far easier to read in the full-screen view on a small screen, so reach for it whenever the inline graph feels cramped.

More controls (the Tools panel)

The Tools button opens a panel of finer controls:

• Search this pedigree: type a name to find and highlight matching animals in the tree, with a live count of matches. The implication: on a large pedigree this is the fast way to locate one animal.
• Siblings: shows or hides the subject's siblings alongside the direct line. The implication: turn it on to see the whole litter or crop, off to keep the tree to the direct ancestry.
• Missing slots: shows or hides the empty ancestor placeholders, the blank slots where a parent is not recorded yet. For an owner these are the slots you can fill. The implication: turn it on to see exactly where the pedigree has gaps.
• Highlight: Off, Repeated, or Cross-side. Repeated marks any ancestor that appears more than once in the tree (the signature of line-breeding); Cross-side marks ancestors that show up on both the sire's and the dam's sides. The implication: this is how you spot doubled-up ancestors at a glance when you are weighing a mating.
• Cards: the card density, Portraits or Detail. Portraits are photo-led cards; Detail shows more text on each card. Creatures picks a sensible default (portraits when most animals have a photo, detail otherwise) and remembers your choice. The implication: it is a set-and-forget reading preference, photos for browsing, detail for checking names and numbers.
• Descendant view: a generation stepper like the Ancestors control. At 0 the tree shows ancestors only; raise it to also draw the subject's descendants going down, one generation per step, with no fixed ceiling. When a large family passes the drawing budget, a More descendants chip on a boundary animal continues that exact branch. The implication: switch it on to see an animal's offspring and their offspring in the same picture as its ancestors.

Completeness and breeding read-outs

The graph also surfaces a few read-outs:

• The completeness ring: a dial reading "[known] of [possible] ancestor slots, [percent]%" for the generations you are showing, so you can see at a glance how filled-in the tree is. On a very deep view it switches to a simple count of known slots. Its color deepens as the pedigree fills. Select it for a fuller completeness report. The implication: it turns "how complete is this pedigree" into a number you can act on.
• Inbreeding and repeated ancestors: an estimated inbreeding coefficient (COI) and, when present, a repeated-ancestor read-out sit with the tools, and a Hypothetical mating tool can project the pedigree of a cross you are considering. These are a light touch here; the breeding and genetics articles cover them in depth.

Editing from the chart (owners)

For an animal you own or co-own, the graph is also where you build the tree:

• Add relative: opens a composer to add a parent or an offspring directly from the graph.
• Fill an empty slot: with Missing slots shown, select a blank ancestor to add it, including creating a reference parent inline when that ancestor has no profile yet, so an unknown grandparent becomes a reference animal right in place.
• Import pedigree from a photo or PDF: reads a pedigree chart or certificate you upload and drafts the ancestors for you, instead of typing each one. See Add an animal by importing its pedigree. If an import could not confirm every ancestor reading, the tab lists those readings for you in an ancestor readings to confirm card so you can add each one when you are ready; when you ran the import yourself, the card also links back to the import review, and to the source document for a PDF or photo import.
• The implication: you do not have to leave the tree to extend it, and the full "Edit pedigree" page (/animal/{handle}/edit_pedigree) is always there for a longer editing pass.

Suggesting a parent

Other people can suggest a sire or a dam for your animal, with supporting documents, rather than editing your pedigree directly.

• What it is: a suggestion that lands for your review.
• What you do with it: accept it, reject it, or ignore it. A suggestion never applies on its own.
• The implication: the owner stays in control of the recorded pedigree, so a suggestion is an offer of information, not a change to your animal.

DNA-resolved parents

A DNA-confirmed parent can take precedence over a listed one. When a parent has been resolved by DNA, the graph shows that effective parent rather than the originally listed one. This is a light touch here; for the depth of how DNA confirmation works, follow the breeding and genetics articles.

The public herdbook

The herdbook (/herdbook) is the public, searchable index of lineage and registry information across animals on Creatures. It is where a complete, well-supported pedigree pays off in discoverability.

You can search and filter it at the depth bar:

• Search by: registered name, registry number, microchip, an ancestor, or an owner.
• Filter by species, breed, and sex.
• Filter by verification status: a rising scale of how well-evidenced the record is, from reference only, to owner attested, to document supported, to registry link verified, to registrar verified. The implication: a better-evidenced record reads as more trustworthy.
• Filter by signal: registry, lineage, identity, marketplace, or genetics, so you can narrow to the kind of evidence you care about.
• Filter by registry organization, by birth-year range, and by pedigree completeness (how many complete generations, how many ancestors are known).

A herdbook result card shows the sire and dam, the registry number and its verification status, and lineage counts. The implication: a more complete and better-verified public pedigree surfaces and ranks better in the herdbook, so filling out lineage is worth the effort.

Where registrations live (not here)

A common surprise: you record a breed-registry number on the Records tab, not on the pedigree.

• How you add one: on the Records tab, choose Add record, then Registration. It captures the registry, the registered name, the registration number, and a verification status that rises with evidence (reference only, owner attested, document supported, registry link verified, registrar verified). It then shows in the animal's Official Registration panel and in the herdbook. See Care, growth, and identity records.
• A pedigree document is also a record: a pedigree document (the paperwork, as distinct from the graph) is a Pedigree record on the Records tab too. See Care, growth, and identity records.
• The implication: the Pedigree tab is the relationship graph, and the Records tab is where the paperwork lives. The old create-form registration field is not in use, so the Records tab is the way to record a registration.
• Reaching registrar verified: if a registry reviews applications on Creatures, an approved application upgrades both a registration and the animal's sire and dam pedigree links to registrar verified. See Registering an animal with a registry.

Ordering a printed certificate

If a registration on the animal has an official certificate issued through a registry that offers printed copies on Creatures, that entry in the Official Registration panel gains an Order button, labeled "Printed certificate" with the certificate's serial number and price. It lets you order a physical printed copy of a certificate that has already been issued. When no printed certificate is available for a registration, no Order button appears.

Sharing a pedigree and downloading a certificate

From the Pedigree tab you can share the pedigree or download it as a certificate. Open the Share control on the tab to bring up the "Share this pedigree" sheet. This certificate is a Creatures-generated snapshot of the pedigree chart, separate from any official printed certificate a registry issues (covered just above).

• Copy link: copies the pedigree's web address, ready to paste into a message or a listing (on a private animal the sheet notes that the link opens only for people with access). On a phone that supports it, a Share... option hands the same link to your device's share menu.
• Certificate generations: a row of 3, 4, 5, or 6, defaulting to 4, that sets how many generations the downloaded certificate includes. The implication: this is the certificate's own depth, chosen separately from the depth you are viewing on screen, so you can read four generations and still download six.
• Download certificate (PDF): generates a printable pedigree certificate as a PDF. It is a landscape, letter-size document carrying the animal's photo and name, its registration and details, and the ancestor chart to the depth you chose.
• Download image (PNG): the same certificate as an image, handier for posting or dropping into a chat.
• Print: opens the certificate ready to print.

What the certificate shows

The certificate is built to stand on its own as a record:

• The animal at the top: its photo, its registered name (or its everyday name if it has no registered one), its breed, species, sex, birth date, and color, and its registration shown with the same trust level as on the profile.
• The ancestor chart: every ancestor to the chosen depth, each with its name and registration number, and a trust tick in the same rising scale used across Creatures (reference only, owner attested, document supported, registry link verified, registrar verified). A disputed record carries a red ring, and a small legend explains the marks.
• DNA-verified parentage: where a parent link has been confirmed by DNA, the connecting line carries a small DNA mark, so a genetically proven link is visible right on the chart.
• The footer: the estimated inbreeding coefficient (COI), a count of how many ancestor slots are recorded through that many generations, the date it was generated, and a scannable code that opens this animal's live pedigree page. On a public pedigree that means anyone holding the certificate can reach the current record; on a private one the code opens it only for people with access.
• The implication: a certificate is a point-in-time, checkable summary you can hand to a buyer or a registry, and its trust ticks and DNA marks make plain how well each link is evidenced. A better-evidenced pedigree makes a stronger certificate, one more reason to record registrations and reach registrar verified.

Good to know

• A free account is needed to download. Anyone can open the share sheet and copy the link, but the PNG, PDF, and Print options ask you to sign in first, and a free account is enough. Copying the link never requires an account.
• Who can generate one. A certificate follows the pedigree's own visibility. Anyone signed in can download one for a public pedigree, and if you have access to a private animal you can download its certificate too: it arrives marked Private record in the footer, and its scannable link opens the pedigree only for people with access.
• No fee. Downloading a pedigree certificate is free. There is a fair-use limit (up to about 20 downloads in a 10 minute window), and only one certificate is generated at a time, so if you download several in quick succession you may be asked to wait a moment.

To create an animal and start its pedigree, see Adding an animal to Creatures, and for how the Pedigree tab fits among the others, see Your animal's profile page: the tabs and what each one does. Recording a birth can create offspring for you; see Recording births and creating a litter. A more complete public pedigree also supports getting listed in the breeder directory. For the records side, start at The animal records tab.

Related information

• Adding an animal to Creatures
• Your animal's profile page: the tabs and what each one does
• Reference animals: documenting lineage and inviting the owner

Updated on: 07/08/2026