Crossword Genius

Unconfined tapir chasing fine animal (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

okapi

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'animal' is the definition.
(African mammal)

'unconfined tapir chasing fine' is the wordplay.
'unconfined tapir' becomes 'api' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'chasing' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters chase after others).
'fine' becomes 'ok' (synonyms).
'api' after 'ok' is 'OKAPI'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for okapi that I've seen before include "African leaves fancier" , "Beast related to giraffe" , "rainforest ruminant" , "Wild African" , "They're wild in central Africa" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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