The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 5 plus 4 letter word KOALA BEAR
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
K
O
A
L
A
B
E
A
R
More clues leading to the result KOALA BEAR
- Marsupial black at the tail, with nothing in the way of stomach
- Beast in Blake? Or Baal at Heart Reformed?
- A laboratory in Korea treated animal
- Animal found swimming in a lake or a bay, primarily
- Raised a fine sailor to feed king’s animal
- Australian native arranged a break around much of upcoming Asian country
- Animal in a lake – boar, possibly
- Tree-hugger put gnarled oak before arable cultivation
- Suffer after knockout in the manner of iconic Australian?
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "animal" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case animal = koala bear.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.