Scavenger’s longing to be in hot area (5)
I believe the answer is:
hyena
'scavenger's' is the definition.
(animal which scavenges)
'longing to be in hot area' is the wordplay.
'longing' becomes 'yen' (yen can mean a desire or longing for something).
'to be in' is an insertion indicator.
'hot' becomes 'h' (abbreviation eg on taps).
'area' becomes 'a' (maths abbreviation).
'h'+'a'='ha'
'yen' put inside 'ha' is 'HYENA'.
(Other definitions for hyena that I've seen before include "Beast" , "Scavenging carnivore" , "Carrion-eating, dog-like animal" , "Carrion-eating mammal" , "Carrion-feeding carnivore" .)