Crossword Genius

Animal turned up with mother (4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

puma

'animal' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'turned up with mother' is the wordplay.
'turned' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'mother' becomes 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum).
'up' backwards is 'pu'.
'pu'+'ma'='PUMA'

(Other definitions for puma that I've seen before include "Large American feline resembling a lion" , "Mountain lion" , "American wildcat" , "Large wild American feline" , "South American carnivore" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app