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Alright I have all the clue answers and I can see what is happening with 3 of the 4 modifications. I think I even know what the eight unchecked letters will spell (though not the colour). But now stuck on finding the creature and the four word description. The letter pairs do not seem to make anything that helps me.

Does anyone have any advice on how to proceed?

Thanks Will37 and midgers. I think if you stood the two animals side by side you wouldn't have to be David Attenborough to spot the difference.
I'll leave you in peace now to finish the puzzle (because I can't).

raggedy - I don’t think Chambers is saying that a gaur is a tapir is it. Isn’t it just saying that the word seladang can be used for both?

I'm feeling hard done-by! Finished, but can't highlight because I don't know the creature. An AI-supported search produces a lot of animated films, a field of endeavour remote from my experience - last one I remember seeing was Disney's "Alice", c. 1947. Ageism, innit? Anyone feeling particularly charitable?

I don't mind giving you a nudge but can't do it here. You can mail me at jordan2015@btinternet.com if you like

The end game is a real muddle!

When I started working on this puzzle I was really looking forward to the endgame. I had envisioned a nice, well chosen 4 word phrase with minimal repeating letters and most (or ideally all) of the letter pairings being given by the 12 letter answers.

Unfortunately after a couple hours of shifting these letter pairs around I am starting to doubt that the endgame was so nicely constructed. I'm even inferring that unchecked letters in the 12 letter answers do not need checked because there is only one letter that comes after them in the 4 word phrase, and that is still not enough for me to gain a solid foothold in this thing.

Can anyone help nudge me forward?

Cypherhouse - I suggest you start with the 'J' and then work both backwards and forwards. There is only one letter in the grid that gives 'J' and 'J' only gives one new letter. You will find more than one possibility for some letter substitutions as you go, but if you keep track of the possibilities I believe it will give you a good start on the phrase.

Thanks for the suggestion JBird54, unfortunately after 10 or so bifurcations I am not much closer than before. Does a 5 letter book appear in the final phrase?

If not than I have nothing I'm afraid. I've rechecked my letter pairs and am fairly confident that I am not missing anything. I'm frustrated that I struggled through the challenging grid fill just to come to a stop here.

Ooh! At long last I think I found it! Took a good long break and it was the first thing I searched when I got back. Thanks for the encouragement!