Crossword Genius

Start to consider problem about losing 1,000 alpaca? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

camelid

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'start to consider problem' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'about losing 1000 alpaca?' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'ca' (short for circa) and 'ca' is located in the answer.
'1000' could be 'm' (roman numeral) and 'm' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for camelid that I've seen is " Mammal".)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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