In my various books I have wolf shifters, lionesses, panthers, leopards, unicorns, a character that can turn into any species he see's but only the first of that animal of that species that he lays eyes on, um.... crap. I'm forgetting all the other shifters I have LOL I really do use them a lot in my books.
It's really great to delve into the different types that can exist so I highly recommend giving it a try at some point.