Row about grand animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiger
'animal' is the definition.
(tiger is a type of animal)
'row about grand' is the wordplay.
'row' becomes 'tier' (a tier is a row of things).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'grand' becomes 'g' (G is short for grand as in a thousand).
'tier' placed around 'g' is 'TIGER'.
(Other definitions for tiger that I've seen before include "Endangered carnivore" , "audacious person" , "Formidable competitor" , "Fierce feline" , "Asian animal" .)