Animal Available and Species Wanted Lists
ZIMS holds two lists to assist collaboration on collection management: The Species Wanted list (species your institution wants to acquire) and Animals Available list (animals you wish to place elsewhere).
Topics
Locating the Species Wanted and Animals Available lists for your institution
Marking Animals Available from the Husbandry Record
Locating the Species Wanted and Animals Available lists for your institution
The Species Wanted and Animals Available lists for your institution are found under My Institution. You can either follow the ‘red route’ below by clicking Start, Institution, My Institution, or follow the ‘green route’ of clicking the Institution Search shortcut, then clicking My Institution at the top of the screen. Within the My Institution screen, you will see the Species Wanted (1) and Animals Available (2) grids for your institution.
Recording Species Wanted
The Species Wanted grid allows you to list species that your institution wishes to acquire. To manage your list, click the Actions button to add a new wanted species, and view/edit or delete a previous record (note: you need to highlight the record you wish to view/edit or delete before clicking the Actions menu).
When adding a new wanted species, the only mandatory field is Taxonomy, however the more fields you fill in, the more useful it is for other collections when they are viewing the entry.
- Fill in the Taxonomic Information:
Scientific Name/Common Name: the desired taxa you wish to acquire (the only mandatory field).
Total Count: the desired number you want to acquire.
Preferred Sex Type: helpful if you are looking for specific sexes.
Preferred Life Stage: if you only want to acquire young animals or adults you can list that here.
- Fill in the Terms and Details:
Reason: why you want the species. For example, if you list ‘Breeding’, an institution which had a permanently contracepted animal would know not to contact you.
Wanted Terms: this is a multiple select list where you can select the transaction terms desired. If you select Donation only, someone who wanted to send their animal on loan would know not to contact you.
Contact Person: the staff member at your facility who should be contacted regarding a possible transaction. Ideally this person should be marked as Publicly Viewed and their communications details are completed to allow the interested institution to contact them directly.
Willing to pay shipment: although it is standard practice for the receiving institution to pay for shipping, you may not wish to.
Effective and Expiry Date: this can be important information if you need to get the species by a certain date, or if you cannot receive the species until a future date.
Duration: if you are looking for a temporary acquisition the duration of how long you want to hold the animals for can be noted.
Available Type: very important to note if you desire only a temporary acquisition.
- Fill in the Transfer Level: this is where you can set whether you want to receive the animals from an institution within your country, region or if you are willing to accept animals from institutions across the globe. This can be especially important if you do not want to consider a transaction outside of your country.
- Fill in the Notes section:
Notes to Myself: these notes will only be visible by someone at your institution.
Detail: these notes will be visible to all looking at this listing.
Email Notifications
If any institution lists species as available that match your species wanted (and transfer level), an email will be sent to the Species Wanted Contact Person and Animal Available Contact Person notifying both parties of the match.
Recording Animals Available
The Animals Available grid allows you to list specific individuals or groups that your institution would like to place elsewhere. To manage your list, click the Actions button to add a new wanted species, and view/edit or delete a previous record (note: you need to highlight the record you wish to view/edit or delete before clicking the Actions menu).
When adding a new available animal, the only mandatory field is the Animal/group ID (or animal list), but, similar to Species Wanted, the more information you provide makes it easier for a potential institution to determine if this is an animal they may be interested in.
- Fill in the Animal Information:
Single Animal or Animal List: if you are listing a single animal/group you can select it under Single Animal. If you want to place more than one animal at a time, you must use an Animal List. If you do not have an Animal List created already, you can select Add New List and create one to use.
(NOTE: See Using Animal Lists below for some important things to note about using lists)
Can Reproduce: this can be very helpful information if an institution is looking to breed their acquisition.
Potential Offspring: you may not be wishing to place a specific animal at all, you may want to know if there is interest in any potential offspring to help you decide whether to breed or not.
- Fill in the Terms and Details:
Reason – why you want to place the animal.
Terms Offered – this is a multiple select list where you can select the transaction terms desired. We selected Sale only, so someone who wants to acquire only as a Donation would know not to contact us.
Contact Person – who at your facility should be contacted regarding a possible transaction. Ideally this person should be marked as Publicly Viewed and their communications details are completed.
Price – if you selected Sale for the Terms Offered, you can record what you are asking here.
Available Type – very important to note if you desire only a temporary placement.
Date Available and Expiry Date – this can be important information if you do not wish to place the animal immediately or don’t wish to place it after a certain date.
- Fill in the Transfer Level: this is where you can set whether you want to receive the animals from an institution within your country, region or if you are willing to accept animals from institutions across the globe. This can be especially important if you do not want to consider a transaction outside of your country.
- Fill in the Notes section:
Notes to Myself: these notes will only be visible by someone at your institution.
Detail: these notes will be visible to all looking at this listing.
Using Animal Lists
When using the Animal List feature, be aware that only the first taxonomy listed in your selected Animal List will show under the Animals Available listing in My Institution AND in the global search. The list name will be a hyperlink into the list members. Best Practice suggestions are to use Animal Lists for Animals Available only if the list contains the same species. Or, if creating a list to use, name it 'Multiple Species Available' to help correctly identify the listing. Or, you could name it using the relative time frame the list is available.
Marking Animals Available from the Husbandry Record
You can also make Animals Available from within their record. From the Details tab of the animal record, go to Actions > Add Animal to Animals Available List. You cannot remove it from the list here, that still needs to be done from the My Institution > Animals Available grid.
Email Notifications
If the animals you have listed as available match one recorded as a wanted species, an email will be sent to the Species Wanted Contact Person and Animal Available Contact Person notifying both parties of the match.
Dispositioned Animals
Any animals recorded as available will be automatically removed from the list if they have been dispositioned by your institution and are both no longer held and no longer owned by your institution.
Finding Species Wanted
You can open the Species Wanted global list by clicking Start, Institution, Species Wanted.
If you are already in the Institution module, you can also open the Species Wanted list by clicking on the Species Wanted Search (1). Either click search to bring up the full list of animals available, or search for a specific taxonomy. The initial results will default to your Regional Association, but you can also view species wanted from multiple Regional Associations (2). Any entries highlighted in yellow (3) are species which are available from within your country. The Institution Name and Contact Name columns (4) are hyperlinked to quickly take you to the institution’s information or contact information.
Finding Animals Available
You can open the Animals Available global list by clicking Start, Institution, Animals Available.
If you are already in the Institution module, you can also open the Animal Available list by clicking on the Animal Available Search (1). Either click search to bring up the full list of animals available, or search for a specific taxonomy. The initial results will default to your Regional Association, but you can also view animals available from multiple Regional Associations (2). Any entries highlighted in yellow (3) are animals which are available from within your country. The Institution Name, Contact Name and Animal Local ID columns (4) are hyperlinked to quickly take you to the institution’s information, contact information or animal record.
The columns are customizable. The right-hand column lists the date the animal was added to the Available Animals list. You can sort by this column, allowing you to view the most recent new entries. If you have an animal out-on-loan and the holding institution puts it on the Animals Available list, you will receive a Post Office message as a heads up.
Revised 5 March 2025