Why we don't start with an ascendant animal? (5)
I believe the answer is:
hyena
'animal?' is the definition.
(type of animal)
'why we don't start with an ascendant' is the wordplay.
'why' becomes 'hy' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'don't start' means to remove the first letter.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'ascendant' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, going upwards).
'we' with its initial letter removed is 'e'.
'e' put after 'an' is 'ane'.
'ane' reversed gives 'ena'.
'hy'+'ena'='HYENA'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hyena that I've seen before include "Nocturnal animal with hysterical laugh" , "Creature" , "Wild animal" , "African scavenger" , "Spotted scavenger" .)