Are Kirin their own species?

[Wonderbolt Slipstream 263]

The Kirin seem to have traits that’s seem to be pony-like, such as unicorn magic and they seem like the same physical structure of a pony, yet they can burst out into a flaming pony when angered. So are they some sort of pony subspecies, pony hybrid or are they there own species altogether?

(Pics are for comparison purposes)

[DonMaguz 1,023]

Definitely their own species.

- The horns have specific differences.

- Leonine tails are nowhere to be seen in the pony species.

- There's no known species, besides kirin, to undergo an emotional state transformation such as the nirik.

- The only known hybrids in the show are mules and magical creatures.

Spoiler

which apparently are literally the magical combination of animals.

 

[Steve Piranha 28,778]

I think they are a subspecies of ponies 

[CypherHoof 26,479]

My understanding is that earth-mythology kirin are related to dragons - not literally creatures of fire as shown in the show, but certainly fire breathing and with scaled skin, often with dragon-like (rather than pony-like) heads, and with either a single or a pair of horns.

Of course, that doesn't mean that SHOW kirin have to match; There are mythological fire horses (although the chinese element cycles mean there are also water horses, wood horses and so forth) but they aren't called nirik, and kirin can't transform into them (via the magical power of spelling things backwards?). If the writers are rearranging myths to suit their own purposes, they could easily say that kirin are just another species of pony; after all, we have sea ponies, alicorns and so forth beyond the original three "types" of pony.

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

My honest opinion? I would say a different species entirely. Ponies and Kirin might have some sort of common ancestor but that is pretty much it in my eyes.

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin

This article from Wikipedia talks about Kirin and even includes a reference to MLP near the end of it.

[Tacodidra 59,792]

They do look pretty ponylike to me... I'd consider them roughly equivalent to the likes of the hippogriffs – they have a lot of characteristics (especially in appearance) of ponies but still appear to be a distinct species. But that's subjective.

13 hours ago, Wonderbolt Slipstream said:

they can burst out into a flaming pony when angered

There is at least one unicorn (now alicorn) who can also do that.

 

Edited October 3, 2018 by Tacodidra

[CypherHoof 26,479]

17 hours ago, Ganondorf8 said:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qilin

This article from Wikipedia talks about Kirin and even includes a reference to MLP near the end of it.

Been reverted

16 hours ago, Tacodidra said:

There is at least one unicorn (now alicorn) who can also do that. 

Only when there is a Doozy

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

45 minutes ago, Cypherhoof said:

Been reverted

Curse Wikipedia and it's ability to allow anyone to edit its pages. That MLP reference was perfectly fine.

[CypherHoof 26,479]

1 minute ago, Ganondorf8 said:

Curse Wikipedia and it's ability to allow anyone to edit its pages. That MLP reference was perfectly fine.

I think its the opposite - while in theory anyone can edit wikipedia, its amazing (but sad) how often changes have to be made by a select group to NOT be reverted...