Reviewed & updated: October 27, 2022 by Jamie Wilson BA
Looking for an amazing animal tattoo? Well, look no further, as we have the best ideas for animal tattoos that will melt your heart.
Animal tattoos help you express the best emotional version of yourself to the world.
Tattooing one’s skin is a very personal and meaningful thing. That’s why people usually look for tattoo meanings before they put the ink on their skin.
animals and humans have been living together for time immemorial. If you want to ink animal tattoos, then there is symbolism associated with each of most animals. You should try to understand this animal symbolism and see if this symbolism resonates with your mind, body, and soul. Then you can go for tattoos of the animals. You can also check out ‘What animal tattoo should I get?’ quiz to figure out your spirit animal and those spirit animal meanings to get proper animal tattoo ideas. Not just by choosing, you can create your own designs for tattoos. Take inspiration from these animal tattoos and create your own unique animal tattoos with your personal meanings. You can be creative and go for realistic tattoo ideas for animals, animal skull tattoo, cool minimalistic animal tattoos and more.
Magnificent Lion Tattoos
Lions are fierce animals, and they are known as the king of all animals. How many movies of stories have we heard since we were little about the lion that was the king of the jungle? Lions symbolize fierceness, boldness, and leadership. Like the picture one shown above, you can opt for a lion tattoo with a crown on its head. You can choose whether you want a roaring lion or a calm one to express your personality, leadership abilities and boldness.
You can also go for a beloved character from the many movies that we have seen since we were little. Such as Aslan from ‘Narnia’, or Simba, Mufasa, Sarabi, and maybe even Scar from ‘The Lion King’. All of us resonate with one or the other character from movies at times and if you have felt the same with any of the lion characters from beloved movies, then why not show it off?
Lions are also considered to be the animal that symbolizes the zodiac sign, Leo. If you are a Leo, then you can go for a lion tattoo on your body to show off your confident, loyal, leadership, and ambitious nature. You can also go for a nature-oriented lion tattoo with flowers, leaves, or trees around it. You can appeal to your whimsical side among many options if you choose to have a lion tattoo.
Meaningful Fish Tattoos
Fish are amazing creatures that go with the flow of water. They can be a symbolism of life itself. You can be the happiest if you are content with what you are presented in life. The Koi fish especially symbolizes Yin and Yang in Feng shui. Yin and Yang represent the balance of good and bad, the harmony and duality of every opposing value in life. You can opt for a Koi fish Yin and Yang tattoo if you find peace in the concept.
Fish also symbolizes the zodiac sign, Pisces. If you are a Pisces, then show off your kind, empathetic, and creative side to the world proudly with fish tattoos on your body.
There have also been many beloved fish characters in movies. Such as Marlin, Nemo, or Dory from ‘Finding Nemo’, or Oscar, Don Lino, or Katie Current from ‘Shark Tale’. If you love these characters, then show off with tattoos of these characters. You can even take a motivating line or a line with beautiful meanings from the movie, like in the picture below, and have that as your tattoo.
Fish are also kept as pets by many people, so you can also opt for a tattoo of your pet. Show off your love for fish with these amazing tattoo ideas. You have plenty options for fish tattoos that either hace deep meanings or that are just simply adorable. They can be colorful like red, blue, grey, yellow or in black or grey colored.
Spirited Horse Tattoos
Horses are beloved animals that are mainly kept as pets nowadays. They have incredible speed, which is why they are included in many sports, such as Polo or horse racing. If you have pet horses that have given their lives to running, you can then opt for a running horse tattoo on your body like the one in the picture.
There is also a beloved horse character, the BoJack Horseman from the show ‘BoJack Horseman’. You might have resonated with the character or you might just love the character. Whatever it may be, you can choose an inspiring line from the show and keep it as your tattoo like the one in the picture below. It will help you to keep going in the tough times.
Horses can be considered as animals that symbolize the wildness in you. Hence, you can also go for a modern cool horse tattoo design that symbolizes your personality well.
Wonderful Bird Tattoos
Birds are beautiful creatures that are thought to be a symbolism of freedom. They are the ones that are able to fly above the earth free of any shackles. Many choose to tattoo a bird flying away to symbolize freedom from what bound them in life. Such as freedom from a toxic relationship or conservative judgmental surroundings.
Bird, like the dove bird, also symbolizes peace. You can approach a minimalistic bird tattoo representing peace like the one shown above.
Many birds are even kept as pets, like an owl, or a parrot. An owl, in particular, is a beautiful bird that can be a great choice for a tattoo.
Like a dove is the symbolism of peace, an owl is thought to be wise. An owl symbolizes knowledge, wisdom, time, or transition. You can get a tattoo of a wise-looking owl that is a symbolism of wisdom and time, like the one above, or you can also choose whatever speaks to your soul. You can find millions of bird tattoo designs and we can assure you that some will touch your heart.
Royal Tattoos Of Dogs And Cats
Dogs and cats are the favourite pets of most people we know. They make us feel loved unconditionally and understood better than our human companions at times. Dogs and cats are the symbolism of loyalty and friendship. They become a part of our family once they come into our lives. You can go for an elaborately painted realistic tattoo of your dog like the one above.
A cat, in particular, is not as affectionate as a dog, but that does not mean, they don’t love us. A cat has its own language of love and communication. Only a cat lover will understand the extremely special bond a cat can make with a human. You can opt for a beautifully designed generic cat tattoo with a mandala to show off the uniqueness of your pet like the picture shown below.
If you have witnessed the death of your pet, then you can also make them immortal by carving their picture as a tattoo. Even in death, you will be able to carry them with you.
There are also many TV and movie characters that are cats and dogs. Dogs like Snoppy from the comic strip ‘Peanuts’ or Pluto and Goofy from ‘Mickey Mouse’ are quite famous. Cat characters like Marie, Duchess, or Toulouse, from ‘The Aristrocats’, and Garfield from the comic strip ‘Garfield’ are also beloved. You can choose your best tattoo designs from any of them according to your preference.
Powerful Bear Tattoos
Bears are creatures of the wild. A bear is a symbolism of courage, protection for family and friends, wilderness, and strength. A bear can be scary at times, but a bear tattoo on the other hand can be a great symbol of strength and power. You can pair up your bear tattoo with some sketches of the jungle-like the picture above. This can turn out to be beautiful even in just black and grey colours.
Bears are also considered cute in a way. We have teddy bears and when it comes to cute bears, who can forget the panda bears. Panda is a beloved animal and they are not at all scary. If you want a cute and simple tattoo design like shown below, you can surely choose a panda tattoo.
With bears, you can choose any kind of tattoo design. You can go for strong, bold ones that symbolize protection for your friends and family or cute tattoos with panda bears or teddy bears. Other than panda bears, you can choose a design of the beloved character Winnie the Pooh.
Fierce Fox And Wolf Tattoos
Foxes and wolves are fascinating animals of the wild. Foxes are more friendly towards humans and wolves are more intimidating. A fox is considered to be a clever animal. People are not usually scared by them and they are thought of as cute for their friendly and social behaviour. A famous character like Kurana from the anime show ‘Naruto’ is a fictional nine-tailed fox. You can opt for an adorable fox tattoo like the one shown above.
A wolf on the other hand is a large wild animal and can scare away many people. They have been a part of mythology for centuries. They are thought to howl at the moon at night. If you are looking for a wolf tattoo design, you can go for a design incorporating wolves with the moon like the one shown below. You can even choose a tribal wolf tattoo that has a beauty of its own in black or grey colours.
Fox and wolf tattoos are rare and you can choose these animal tattoo designs to show off your uniqueness. You can choose a modern abstract or glyph design in black colour mixed with these animals as they go well with both wolf and fox tattoos.
Beautiful Butterfly Tattoos
Butterflies are beautiful little animals. They come in various colours, like blue, red, white, black, grey, or yellow. You don’t have to go for symbolism, and just have a minimalistic coloured butterfly tattoo like the one shown above.
Butterflies at times are associated with love and romance as well. This beautiful animal is thought to enhance the beauty of love. You and your partner can also get a matching butterfly tattoo as a symbol of your love for each other. You can have a colourful butterfly tattoo or a dark one like the one shown below for the two of you.
A butterfly symbolizes resurrection from death, or transformation, hope and if you are thinking what animal represents life in tattoo, then it’s butterflies. A caterpillar transforms from its tiny self to the beauty of a butterfly. If you have gone through a rough patch and you’ve come back stronger at the end of it, then you could show off your personal strength to the world with a beautiful butterfly tattoo as well. Tickle your fancy among the thousands of butterfly tattoo choices.
Elegant Elephant Tattoos
Elephants are majestic animals. They are large in size yet gentle. They symbolize prosperity, strength, loyalty, wisdom, and many other noble qualities. The elephant is a large animal and you can get a full sleeve elephant tattoo that is also large in size like the picture above to show off your animal love tattoo or to express your own personality traits.
Elephants also symbolize the sacred divinity Lord Ganesha in Hinduism. Lord Ganesha is thought to bring great fortune, peace, good luck, mental strength, and power. You can opt for a tattoo with divine symbols and mandala like the picture below as a charm of good luck on your arm.
Elephants and their cubs are considered adorable as well. They are so well-loved worldwide that many movies featuring them have been made. Such as Dumbo from the Disney movie ‘Dumbo’, Manny from the ‘Ice Age’, or Hathi from ‘The Jungle Book’. You can choose the best among the variety of elephant characters like these for your next cool tattoo.
Majestic Snake Tattoos
Snakes are amazing animals who get the bad rep as a representation of some bad people who are two-faced. Snakes can be rather calm and collected, and many people even keep them as pets. They even symbolize healing, fertility, transformation. Like the one in the picture above, the pictures of a single snake around a dagger symbolize surviving by fighting constantly. The picture above also symbolizes healing and medicine as it is associated with the Greek God of medicine, Asclepius. It is also named the Rod of Asclepius.
Snakes have also been a part of many well-loved movies. Such as, in the Harry Potter books and movies, the house of Slytherin had a snake in their house symbol. You could choose an adorable little snake design that gives out Slytherin vibes like the one shown below.
You could choose a snake tattoo that is realistic to tell your personal story of transformation. You can have a snake tattoo as a symbolism of fertility. Take your pick from many more designs with various meanings of snake tattoos.
We can’t choose one particular animal for the best animal tattoo, as they all symbolize different things and people might connect to each symbolism in different ways. Find your connection and get your unique animal tattoo.