Forbid new soldier changing side for exotic creature (4,2,8)
I believe the answer is:
bird of paradise
'creature' is the definition.
(bird of paradise is a kind of animal)
'forbid new soldier changing side for exotic' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'forbid' is 'birdof' which is present in the answer.
'soldier' could be 'para' (short for paratrouper) and 'para' is found within the answer.
an anagram of 'side' is 'dise' which is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bird of paradise that I've seen before include "plant" , "gorgeous flyer" , "Avian noted for its plumage" .)