The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word LEMURS
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More clues leading to the result LEMURS
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Animals" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case animals = lemurs.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does LEMURS mean?
LEMURS noun- Any strepsirrhine primate of the infraorder Lemuriformes, superfamily Lemuroidea, native only to Madagascar and some surrounding islands.
- Any of the genus Lemur, represented by the ring-tailed lemur (Lemur catta).
- A loris (Lemur tardigradus, now Loris tardigradus), predating the 10th edition of Systema Naturæ.