(In the Life of A... is a (fictional) British kids show which talks about different species and how they interact with the world around them. The message at the end is that even though people are of different species, they're still people after all, regardless of their other differences.)
Afternoon, kids. My name's Joan. My species? I am a griffin. There aren't that many of us about, compared to most other species, which is why you may not have seen one of us before. I think this may be the first time that most of you have even seen a griffin! We usually live in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
When it comes to work, it's very easy for us to get jobs as couriers. After all, we don't usually need a vehicle and we can often clear more ground than a bike or car. We do also find work as guardians in one capacity or another, whether that's as a babysitter, a teacher, a policeman or a soldier.
Our bodies? I'm going to describe a griffin's body from head to toe.
A griffin's eyes are the same as an eagle's, meaning that we can see further away than most. We can also see clearly in dim lighting, but not as well as a cat could. Our hearing, taste and sense of smell is about the same as most other species. Our beak is designed for tearing meat. Don't worry, we don't eat people, that's just wrong!
And now the part of my body you likely first noticed when you saw me. Our wings are the most striking and obvious feature we have.
Here, Joan flaps her wings slightly... and then fully extends them, causing the camera to slowly zoom out. Joan then starts to hover a couple of feet above the ground as she continues...
And as you can see, they really do work! We usually choose to fly under our own power to go anywhere if we don't have a good reason why we shouldn't, like when we have to go on an aeroplane. When we're not in a hurry, we usually soar at about 30 MPH. That's enough to get from Dover in Britain to Calais in France in under an hour.
But when we need to hurry, we can fly at speeds over 120 MPH! That means that we can get from Dover to Calais in just ten minutes if we have a good enough reason to do it that fast! We still need to land and present our passports at the border like everyone else, though.
Joan then lands.
Our clothes - like my hoodie - need to be designed with our wings in mind. I think only one in ten clothes shops that I've seen sells clothing designed for dorsal wings like mine. Those of us who can afford to go to a professional tailor or dressmaker will certainly be making a few appointments in our lifetime!
You might be wondering why I wear these gloves. There's a reason for that.
Here, Joan takes a glove off, revealing an eagle's talons.
At the ends of our fingers, we have sharp talons, which we prefer to use to tear meat apart when we eat. The gloves are worn because we don't want to accidentally hurt people. Modern gloves for griffins have a conductive material on the tips so we can use touchscreens like the one on your phone or your tablet. I actually go to a professional glover for mine. A glover is like a tailor, but they specialise in making gloves. A glover in a town known to have several griffins living in it isn't worried at all about finding paid work.
Joan puts the glove back on again.
Our tails, legs and feet are feline in origin. Unlike buying tops, buying something for below the waist is easy. We just shop in the same places that everyone else does.
We hatch from eggs like other birds and we start learning to fly when we're about five or six years old. Everyone else in a griffin's family gets involved with getting them to fly. There's usually three to four other people in a griffin's immediate family: their mum and dad, and their siblings.
A griffin who finally learns how to fly is said to have fledged and it's a significant moment in a griffin's life. PE lessons in a school containing several griffins always include flying lessons.
When we truly care about someone, we hug them with our arms and with our wings, it feels really good for both of us when we do it!
A griffin who's been surprised often has the instinctive reaction of fully expanding their wings. This is usually enough to scare off most animals and makes scaring a griffin a bad idea.
We often use major landmarks like rivers, mountains and lakes to navigate when flying and when railway lines and skyscrapers were first built, we started using them to navigate as well!
In ancient times, we used to live on mountains, hills and cliffs, places where there was less chance of our homes being attacked. In medieval times, we often lived in a castle tower and in return, we helped defend it when it was attacked. During the Age of Exploration, our ability to scout a new land ahead of the ship without actually having to land on it meant that we were highly prized as crew. In the modern era, we prefer to live in houses with a back garden or in a flat with a balcony, places where we can have a private landing space. And we still prefer to live as far above ground and sea level as possible. Flier-friendly flats have an entrance and intercom on the roof like they do on the ground floor.
And that's all the time I have this week, Goodbye and keep an eye on those friendly skies!
