Reportedly precious animals (4)
I believe the answer is:
deer
'animals' is the definition.
(type of animals)
'reportedly precious' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'precious' becomes 'dear' (I've seen this in another clue).
'dear' is a homophone of 'DEER'.
(Other definitions for deer that I've seen before include "Perhaps fallow" , "The male is a stag" , "The males have antlers" , "Ruminant mammal with antlers and hooves" , "Hoofed animals" .)