diff --git a/plugins/_collections.js b/plugins/_collections.js
index feab67bfc..57376150e 100644
--- a/plugins/_collections.js
+++ b/plugins/_collections.js
@@ -124,6 +124,7 @@ export const attrsGroups = {
   animationAddition: new Set(['additive', 'accumulate']),
   animationAttributeTarget: new Set(['attributeType', 'attributeName']),
   animationEvent: new Set(['onbegin', 'onend', 'onrepeat', 'onload']),
+  animationTargetElement: new Set(['href']),
   animationTiming: new Set([
     'begin',
     'dur',
@@ -499,6 +500,7 @@ export const elems = {
       'animationAddition',
       'animationAttributeTarget',
       'animationEvent',
+      'animationTargetElement',
       'animationTiming',
       'animationValue',
       'conditionalProcessing',
@@ -528,6 +530,7 @@ export const elems = {
     attrsGroups: new Set([
       'animationAddition',
       'animationEvent',
+      'animationTargetElement',
       'animationTiming',
       'animationValue',
       'conditionalProcessing',
@@ -552,6 +555,7 @@ export const elems = {
       'animationAddition',
       'animationAttributeTarget',
       'animationEvent',
+      'animationTargetElement',
       'animationTiming',
       'animationValue',
       'conditionalProcessing',
@@ -1748,6 +1752,7 @@ export const elems = {
     attrsGroups: new Set([
       'animation',
       'animationAttributeTarget',
+      'animationTargetElement',
       'animationTiming',
       'conditionalProcessing',
       'core',
diff --git a/test/plugins/removeUnknownsAndDefaults.18.svg.txt b/test/plugins/removeUnknownsAndDefaults.18.svg.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8a81c4127
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/plugins/removeUnknownsAndDefaults.18.svg.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+Preserve both xlink:href and href attributes in animation elements.
+
+See: https://github.com/svg/svgo/issues/2061
+
+===
+
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
+  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
+    <animate href="#a" attributeName="fill-opacity" values="0;1" dur="4s" fill="freeze" />
+    <animate xlink:href="#b" attributeName="fill-opacity" values="0;1" dur="4s" fill="freeze" />
+    <circle id="a" cx="12" cy="12" r="8" fill="green" fill-opacity="0"/>
+    <circle id="b" cx="36" cy="12" r="8" fill="blue" fill-opacity="0"/>
+
+    <animateMotion href="#c" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" path="M20,30 h60 z" />
+    <animateMotion xlink:href="#d" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" path="M0,30 h60 z" />
+    <circle id="c" r="5" fill="red"/>
+    <circle id="d" r="5" fill="orange"/>
+
+    <animateTransform href="#e" attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0 5 50" to="360 5 50" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" />
+    <animateTransform xlink:href="#f" attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0 50 50" to="360 50 50" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" />
+    <rect id="e" x="5" y="50" width="10" height="8" fill="yellow"/>
+    <rect id="f" x="50" y="50" width="10" height="8" fill="pink"/>
+
+    <set href="#g" attributeName="r" to="20" begin="1s" dur="2s" />
+    <set xlink:href="#h" attributeName="r" to="20" begin="1s" dur="2s" />
+    <circle id="g" cx="10" cy="70" r="5" fill="purple"/>
+    <circle id="h" cx="30" cy="70" r="5" fill="silver"/>
+</svg>
+
+@@@
+
+<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" viewBox="0 0 100 100">
+    <animate href="#a" attributeName="fill-opacity" values="0;1" dur="4s" fill="freeze"/>
+    <animate xlink:href="#b" attributeName="fill-opacity" values="0;1" dur="4s" fill="freeze"/>
+    <circle id="a" cx="12" cy="12" r="8" fill="green" fill-opacity="0"/>
+    <circle id="b" cx="36" cy="12" r="8" fill="blue" fill-opacity="0"/>
+    <animateMotion href="#c" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" path="M20,30 h60 z"/>
+    <animateMotion xlink:href="#d" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite" path="M0,30 h60 z"/>
+    <circle id="c" r="5" fill="red"/>
+    <circle id="d" r="5" fill="orange"/>
+    <animateTransform href="#e" attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0 5 50" to="360 5 50" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite"/>
+    <animateTransform xlink:href="#f" attributeName="transform" attributeType="XML" type="rotate" from="0 50 50" to="360 50 50" dur="10s" repeatCount="indefinite"/>
+    <rect id="e" x="5" y="50" width="10" height="8" fill="yellow"/>
+    <rect id="f" x="50" y="50" width="10" height="8" fill="pink"/>
+    <set href="#g" attributeName="r" to="20" begin="1s" dur="2s"/>
+    <set xlink:href="#h" attributeName="r" to="20" begin="1s" dur="2s"/>
+    <circle id="g" cx="10" cy="70" r="5" fill="purple"/>
+    <circle id="h" cx="30" cy="70" r="5" fill="silver"/>
+</svg>