Animals-Adding Sex Change Event

Recording a sex edit or sex change event for a specimen.

Editing a Sex Type means you are editing a sex as recorded. You can only edit sex records that your institution has recorded. There is no history maintained that the sex was edited unless you capture it in Details box or a Note. Recording a Sex Change Event means that the sex record remains and a new record is added. There is a sex type history maintained. An actual Sex Change occurs in few species, but some may want to use that option instead of editing a record to maintain the sex history or to change a sex recorded by another institution. Using either method, the last recorded sex type is what will display globally. The last recorded sex type entered by your institution is what will display locally.

Editing Sex

Recording Sex Change Event

Editing Sex

This can only be done for records entered by your institution. To change a sex entered by another facility, see Recording Sex Change Event below.

Editing sex should only be done in the case of mistaken data entry, if you have new information, for example; a bird previously recorded as male laying an egg then a Sex Change Event should be added to ensure an accurate history for that animal is recorded.

In our scenario a user has mistakenly added male when they actually meant to add female. From the Taxonomy / Sex / Collection grid, highlight the sex record and select View/Edit Selected from the Actions menu.

Once you Save, the entry will be updated in the grid. As mentioned, there is no history captured when you edit a sex unless you captured it in the Details box or recorded a Note.

Recording Sex Change Event

You would record a Sex Change Event for the following reasons:

The sex was not recorded by your institution and you need to change it
The sex was recorded by your institution but you want to maintain a history of the change
The animal actually changed sex

Select Sex Change Event from the Actions menu. You do not have to highlight a sex record first.

There is no default date entered and you will need to decide what date to use. Generally, this would be the date the correct sex was discovered; in our case the date the egg was laid. Once saved, both sexes will be displayed in the grid; a history is captured and may answer questions as to why an animal was managed as a different sex during a time period.

The Sex Type will be displayed globally as per the current/last holder. It will be displayed locally as per your entry.

Best Practice

The date that you select to use for the change date will depend on if you want to know that the specimen was managed as a different sex for a period of time. If you do not need to retain that information, simply edit the sex and accept the default for the date. If you do want to retain that information, then leave the initial Sex Type record intact and record a Sex Change Event as of the date you were given the correct information. Remember to capture why the sex was changed in either the Details box or a Note.

Revised 5 March 2025