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. This tab appears once the animal has any recorded sire, dam, or offspring, so an animal with no family yet does not show it.

• What an owner can do from it: owners get an "Edit pedigree" affordance and can fill an empty ancestor slot right from the graph, including creating a reference parent inline when the ancestor has no profile yet. The implication: you do not have to leave the tree to extend it, and an unknown ancestor becomes a reference animal in place.

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.

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: 23/06/2026