For this weeks feature, I was having a hard time deciding between these two, so I did both! This week we feature both the Hippogriff and the Hippocampus.

The Hippogriff (Or Hippogryphe) the result of the breeding of a Gryphon and a mare. The oddity in that is that by legend the favorite food of a Gryphon IS HORSE! Up until Harry Potter came along, very few sources mentioned this beast. The poem 'Orlando furioso' by Ludovico Ariosto is the first reference and still most popular classic reference to the Hipoogriff. The Hipoogriff is consider more docile than the Gryphon, eating both meat, along with grazing like a horse.

The Hippocampus originates in Greek mythos, appearing as mounts and chariot pullers of numerous gods and goddesses. It appears in great variety, some having an untouched front half of a horse with a giant fish tail. Others will have finned forelegs, fined manes or protruding nostrils similar to how have whales and dolphins were depicted in art.

Both creatures names come from Greek, 'Hippo gryphus' comes out to Hooked horse, the Gryph part refering possibly to the hooked beak of the gryphon. The 'Hipoo Campus' can be referend to in English as 'Monster horse'.

On to the art. I went and picked some uniquely drawn variations of both of these monsters.

Hippogriff:



And two 3D Hipoogriffs of note:


Hipoocampus:



And a Teacup sized Hippocampus:





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Last week: Gargoyle