Shore up an animal (5)
I believe the answer is:
horse
'an animal' is the definition.
(type of animal)
'shore up' is the wordplay.
'up' indicates an anagram (letters get chucked up).
'shore' anagrammed gives 'HORSE'.
(Other definitions for horse that I've seen before include "eg Shire" , "farm animal" , "Hoofed mammal" , "Its mouth a reliable source of info" , "Equipment in gym" .)