Animal close to home territory (5)
I believe the answer is:
eland
'animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'close to home territory' is the wordplay.
'close to' suggests the final letters (the close/ending of).
'territory' becomes 'land' (land is a kind of territory**).
The final letter of 'home' is 'e'.
'e'+'land'='ELAND'
(Other definitions for eland that I've seen before include "African beast" , "Ruminant" , "wild creature" , "Largest living antelope" , "Large African antelope with spiral horns" .)