Animal pelt, expensive sounding (8)

I believe the answer is:

reindeer

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'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'pelt expensive sounding' is the wordplay.
'pelt' becomes 'rein' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'expensive' becomes 'dear' (similar in meaning).
'sounding' shows a homophone (sound like).
'dear' sounds like 'deer'.
'rein'+'deer'='REINDEER'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for reindeer that I've seen before include "They pull Santa's sleigh" , "Arctic ruminant" , "Northern ungulate" , "Christmas card creatures" , "Santa's sleigh pullers" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sunday Times.

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