The animal, with some difficulty, skirts the void (5)
I believe the answer is:
moose
'the animal' is the definition.
(type of animal)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for moose that I've seen before include "Ungulate" , "North American elk" , "Large northern deer" , "Large N American deer like European elk" , "US deer with enormous antlers" .)