'Much-loved creatures', soldier ant and asp? Questionable (5,6)
I believe the answer is:
giant pandas
'much-loved creatures' is the definition.
'soldier ant and asp? questionable' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'gi' (GI can mean a US soldier).
'questionable' indicates anagramming the letters.
'and'+'asp'='andasp'
'andasp' is an anagram of 'pandas'.
'gi'+'ant'+'pandas'='GIANT PANDAS'
(Other definitions for giant pandas that I've seen before include "Animals" , "Mammals" .)