Animal arrived, then shortly left (5)
I believe the answer is:
camel
'animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'arrived then shortly left' is the wordplay.
'arrived' becomes 'came' (coming is a kind of arriving).
'then' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'shortly' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'left' is 'l'.
'came'+'l'='CAMEL'
(Other definitions for camel that I've seen before include "Light yellowish-brown colour - ruminant" , "African carrier" , "Means of transport" , "Desert transport" , "A ship, some say" .)