Often a natural example of suspended animation (6)
I believe the answer is:
spider
'animation' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spider that I've seen before include "Prised open the arachnid" , "Eight-legged webmaster?" , "Bruce's inspiration?" , "A common arachnid" , "Web designer?" .)