Coridae - Start with a griffin

Oceanic

They developed the ability to breathe air to escape predators, and this ability was amplified to turn some into the Coastal. They look completely different on land than in the water. They have double jointed hind legs which serve as a broad horizontal tail, a slim whip like tail has a vertical fin which can be lifted or dropped, front limbs are held back against the body when swimming, and mid limbs (where wings are in other species) are long wing-shaped flippers. These mid limbs are somewhat like a penguin's flippers. The front limbs are legs, but are weaker than the hind limbs. They are used to hold on to rocks when searching for food. They lay their leathery eggs in warm shallow water and wait for about a month for their young to hatch. When not in use their front limbs are held up against their body on dips in their ribs, to keep them out of the way while swimming. They developed detailed colour vision where they can see ultraviolet and near infra-red. This sacrificed the ability to see yellow but allowed them to find a lot more food, which stayed in most species.

(none of them can see purple either because Purple Doesn't Exist)

Coastal

These are much larger than the Oceanic. They spend more time on land so need to be able to breathe air as well as water. They can also swim and breathe in fresh water of rivers as well as the salt water of the oceans. This opened up a whole new bountiful set of food for them. They have the same basic shape as the Oceanic, but much bigger. Their diet has expanded to include migrating and shallow water fish as well as the small reef fish and shelled creatures of the ocean. They will walk on land more often than the Oceanic and so their front limbs are larger and stronger. Since they started to have time to play together they started forming large clans and developing culture. They have one settlement on land next to the river and one underwater in the reef.

Plains (Extinct)

These were the equivalent of Neanderthal or Australopithecus. They ran on six legs with the front limbs having large talons, and the mid limbs having long grasping fingers to hold their prey while the talons and spiked beak dispatch it. They had small sharp horns on the corners of their skull which they used for defence from each other and predators. They developed feathers on their mid limbs for display to get mates and to make predators think they look bigger than they are.

Arboreal

These are small, dappled green and brown, have the grappling limbs of the Plains and use them to climb trees. They are quite intelligent but still driven by rather primal instincts. They have gliding wings on their mid-limbs used escape small predators by jumping between tall trees. They have an extra egg-type, M. It improves spatial memory and sense of smell. MM produces an individual who almost looks like a different species. They know where every type of plant in the forest is and the best way to get to them. If someone needs a particular herb they should ask an MM to find it. They often live alone on the edge of a settlement.

Skyvander

A giant with hollow bones, and gigantic wings. These appeared between the Plains and the Central, with guts built to eat everything. Their front and mid limbs are both developed into strong wings with the mid limbs held just behind the front limbs to be moved like the flaps on a small plane. They still have small branched horns which are too small to do anything with. .

Central (Extinct)

These lived at the same time as the Plains. They had a random mutation which allowed them to digest plants as well as meat. Since they didn't need their mid limbs to grapple prey they developed the display feathers to get away from and to scare off their cousins, the aggressive Plains. Eventually they moved to the mountains where there is more fruit and settled into two slightly different sub species. They had quite long and lightly curled horns. Eventually their wings moved upwards and became fully functioning wings. Their bones also became lighter with faint triangle shaped markings on the surface.

Northern/Southern

These live on the mountains to the north and south of the plains. They have strong legs and talons to climb the rocks and well developed eagle-like wings to carry them up and down the mountains. The differences are the shape of the horns. Both have quite long horns compared to others, and they don't point forward for fighting. The northern sub-species has straight horns while the southern sub-species have lightly curled horns. These are now purely decorative and often trimmed down to the growth plate on the skull. Once cut with wire they can be rubbed against stone to keep them short. They generally eat plants but some still hunt.

Polar

Only found in the arctic. They are small, white, with the same grappling mid limbs as the Plains they are descended from. They are very social and are semi-advanced. They look somewhat like snowy owls without wings and hunt creatures which look a lot like seals. They are about as intelligent as the Forest and have large clans, but are much calmer because of their environment. They can live peacefully with the Northern/Southern species provided they have a cool place to sleep. They lost the ability to sweat, if they need to cool their body they burrow into snow.

Agelai (Extinct)

They were white and feathered all over to blend in with the mountain peaks they lived on. They had small talons, condor's wings, fixed horizon scanning pupils, and the spark of creativity with the electromagnetic ability to use it. The climate warmed, the snow fields disappeared, and they could not travel far enough to find a mate. Their beaks were flatter than other Coridae species and were specialised to eat algae (like spoonbill storks). They knew full well that there wasn't anything they could do to save themselves at the end. The last one turned herself into stone as she died of old age so that others might remember that they existed. She set a shield around herself and the stone she was sitting on so that it would last for fifty thousand years. This shield was powered by the volcano she lived on and set for that time because if no life with enough intelligence to know what it was had seen it by then, it wasn't likely to be found. It was found by the modern Southern species along with a tablet which was roughly translated to "We knew our end was near. We could not be saved. Love your home, you may not know when it might lose you."

Gore-Viper

Large meat eating creatures, closely related to the Skyvander. They look somewhat like a cross between a Viper-Wolf or thanator from Avatar and Gore Magala from Monster Hunter. They have gone back to 6 legs with grappling talons. They are generally solitary and territorial, but still manogamous. They will meet up with the same partner every third year to mate but otherwise they stay apart. They will wrestle and play while they are together and generally act like overgrown cubs. Then at the right time they will mate, and raise their young together. They have a similar reproduction technique as other Coridae but they both carry embryos. They both carry young, both lay eggs, both guard the eggs, and take turns hunting for both of them and their young. Once the young are old enough to move away, the parents separate and go back to their own territory.