Since they are nouns, the German word for every animal is either masculine, feminine, or neuter. In this example, you can see that der Bussard is masculine, while die Katze is feminine:

Doch der Mäusebussard auf dem Ast hat die scheue Katze nur aufgeschreckt.

But the common buzzard on the branch has only startled the shy cat.

Caption 22, Alpenseen: Kühle Schönheiten

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banner6 PLACEHOLDER

In English, only pets and anthropomorphized characters are referred to as "he" or "she," whereas wild animals are generally referred to as "it." This is not the case in German, where the gender is always maintained. You can see this in the following examples, which involve weighing a wild bat (die Fledermaus), the plight of the beaver (der Biber), the nests of the white-throated dipper (die Wasseramsel), and a pet catfish named Ottl. 

Jetzt werden wir sie noch wiegen.

Now we're going to weigh it.

Caption 48, Die Alpen von oben: S1 E1 Von den Karawanken nach Graz

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Früher wurde er sehr viel gejagt, denn sein Fell war sehr begehrt.

It used to be hunted a lot because its fur was very much in demand.

Captions 16-17, Für Tierfreunde: Wildtiere in Deutschland

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Ihre Kugelnester baut sie gern auf halber Höhe über dem Wasser.

It likes to build its spherical nests halfway up above the water.

Caption 36, Die letzten Paradiese: Die Schönheit der Alpen 1

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Auch wenn der Ottl gleich alt ist wie sein Besitzer, in der Länge hat er ihn mit zwei Meter elf längst überholt.

Even though Ottl is the same age as his owner, he has long since overtaken him with a length of two meters eleven centimeters.

Captions 29-30, Die Alpen von oben: S1 E1 Von den Karawanken nach Graz

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Generally, the third person plural is consistent in both languages: 

Sie wehren sich mit ihren starken Zähnen und Krallen.

They defend themselves with their strong teeth and claws.

Caption 46, Deutsch mit Eylin: Unsere 5 Katzen

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The next example is rather unusual. Because the animal in question is das Schweinchen ("the piglet"), the pronoun is es. But because it's a character—one of the three little pigs—"he" is used in English for the purpose of personification. 

Es hörte seine Pfoten auf dem Dach und durchschaute den Wolf sofort.

He heard his paws on the roof and saw through the [plans of the] Wolf immediately.

Caption 70, Märchen: Sagenhaft Die drei kleinen Schweinchen

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Further Learning
You'll find many videos about animals on Yabla German, including the new video about Lipizzaner horses featured above.