Holy man in ruin nearby (8)
I believe the answer is:
marabout
'holy man' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'ruin nearby' is the wordplay.
'ruin' becomes 'mar' (I've seen this before).
'nearby' becomes 'about' ('about' can be a synonym of 'nearby').
'mar'+'about'='MARABOUT'
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for marabout that I've seen before include "Muslim shrine" , "holy shrine" .)