A new animal every day

This was Tuesday’s animal. Every day has its own page.

See today’s animal

Tuesday 6 October 2026

A tiny orange beetle with black spots and clear, glassy edges, walking across a person’s skin.
Photo: Andrew C · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Golden tortoise beetle

It can change colour. Disturb it, and its shiny gold shell can turn reddish brown.

Lives in
GardensGardens and fields across the Americas, from Canada to Argentina
More about the golden tortoise beetleScientific name, size and Red List status
Scientific name
Charidotella sexpunctata
Size
5–7 mm long
IUCN Red List
Not evaluated

The IUCN Red List has assessed 175,909 species. This one has not been assessed yet. What this means

Fact source: Barrows, 1979

This week

Every animal so far
  1. Mon 5Thorny devil
  2. Tue 6Golden tortoise beetleViewing
  3. Wed 7Pacific barreleye
  4. Thu 8Okapi
  5. Fri 9KeaToday
  6. Sat 10Tomorrow’s animalin 19 h 47 min
  7. Sun 11

Why Animall

People can’t care about animals they have never heard of.

Scientists still discover thousands of new animal species every year, while many others are disappearing because of habitat loss and climate change. Some die out before anyone has described them.

10,000+

new animal species are described every year.

University of Arizona, 2025

86%

of species on Earth, and 91% in the ocean, have not been described yet.

Mora et al., 2011

73%

average drop in monitored wildlife populations between 1970 and 2020.

WWF Living Planet Report, 2024