Exotic mink and sentient apes (7)
I believe the answer is:
mankind
'sentient apes' is the definition.
(humans are apes)
'exotic mink and' is the wordplay.
'exotic' is an anagram indicator (an unusual form of the letters).
'mink'+'and'='minkand'
'minkand' anagrammed gives 'MANKIND'.
(Other definitions for mankind that I've seen before include "Everybody" , "Humanity" , "people, in general" , "People generally" , "Human beings collectively" .)