One of the most interesting things about mythology is the large bestiary of magical creatures you can get. Many of them are just a simple fusion from already existing animals, existing animals with some additional features added, or just existing animals that are larger and more powerful than they usually are. There are Pegasi and other horses that got wings. There is the Chimera, a hybrid creature with the head of a goat, the body of a lion and a snake as tail. Oh, did I mention that the Chimera can also breathe fire? And then there is the Nemean Lion, a powerful lion with impenetrable fur and claws sharper than human swords, able to penetrate any armor.

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If you've studied the Care of Magical Creatures, you are probably aware of the existence of the Kappa. The Kappa is a monkey-like, japanese water demon that is known to strangle humans that invade their pond and feed on human blood. They have webbed hands and a depression on top of their head that is filled with water. Kappas are easily thwarted by throwing a cucumber inscribed with one's name on near it, or by bringing them to bow, thereby losing water from the carapace, weakening them.

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The Kappa is taken directly from Japanese folklore. They are Yōkai, supernatural spirits or monsters that usually possess features from animals. In this case, the Kappa is described human-like, with webbed hands and a carapace that resembles the shell of a turtle. They also have a water-filled depression atop their head. That all is very similar to the magical creature.

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But the real differences can be seen in the behaviour of the magical and the mythological creature. The magical Kappa appears to be more malicious, more aggressive, attacking and strangling humans before feeding on their blood. The mythological Kappa on the other side is more of a trickster or troublemaker. Their behaviour varies, from small pranks all the way to the kidnapping and drowning people and animal, anything can happen. But not all Kappas are malicious and overly aggressive. And they can even be kinda domesticated (though the actual relationship more resembles the master-slave relationship of house-elves); by bowing to them, the kappa will reply to the politeness and also bow, spilling water from the depression. If the human now refills the depression, the Kappa will serve the human for all eternity.

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From that we can see that magical creatures often have an origin in mythology and folklore, but usually are not just simple carbon-copies.