Crossword Genius

Be covered in fleece as female animal (3-4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

she-bear

'female animal' is the definition.

'be covered in fleece' is the wordplay.
'covered in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'fleece' becomes 'shear' ('shear' can be a synonym of 'fleece').
'be' put into 'shear' is 'SHE-BEAR'.

'as' is the link.

(Another definition for she-bear that I've seen is " This female more deadly than the male (Kipling)".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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