Runs on ahead of the animals (9)
I believe the answer is:
antelopes
'animals' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'runs on ahead of' is the wordplay.
'runs' becomes 'lopes' (loping is a kind of running).
'on' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ahead of' becomes 'ante' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'lopes' put after 'ante' is 'ANTELOPES'.
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for antelopes that I've seen before include "Wild animals" , "Gazelles, impalas etc" , "Springboks, say" .)