Beast having a shot at some duties (6)
I believe the answer is:
agouti
'beast' is the definition.
(agouti is a kind of beast)
'a shot at some duties' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'shot' could be 'go' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'go' is found within the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'having' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for agouti that I've seen before include "Caribbean rodent" , "Guinea pig-like rodent" , "South American rodent" , "Rodent related to the guinea pig" , "Large rodent" .)