Let me explain. In Italian as an example "monkey" ("scimmia") is female, so if you want to be precise about the gender of a specific animal you would need to specify either "a male monkey" or "a female monkey". There are a few exceptions where the gender is specified by using a different word, like in English happens with animals like lion/lioness, stallion-gelding/mare or bull-ox/cow.
Does your language deal with this differently?