Dinosaur Tattoos

Every child goes through a dinosaur phase. This seems to be true no matter the child’s race, gender, country of origin, economic circumstances or even the period of time in which they grew up. There’s something about learning the planet was once ruled by these absolutely enormous creatures that enthralls a young mind. 

Dinosaurs are alternately terrifying and fascinating. I’d never want to come across a Tyrannosaurus in the wild, but I’ll gladly tear through every book written about the creatures, and I’m far from the only one. 

As a child, I was completely obsessed with the ankylosaurus. When I first saw an ankylosaurus skeleton at the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco it broke my brain. There was so much to take in. The club tail! The spiny back! The thing that really blew my mind was that unlike the ferocious-looking tyrannosaurus, the ankylosaurus was a vegan. OK, herbivore is probably the better term, but you know what I mean. I had been trained to believe if an animal looks fearsome—sharks, lions, vipers, etc.—it is going to be a predator. It was quite a trip to learn the ankylosaurus has all of those “weapons” for defense from other dinosaurs. 

I was a bit of a hipster about my dinosaurs after learning about the ankylosaurus. All the other kids were into the T-Rex or triceratops, not me, I liked my dinosaurs to be obscure and deep cuts. As a dinosaur obsessed kid who evolved into a punk teen, I’ve come to think of the ankylosaurus as the dinosaur version of Crimpshrine—you may not know them, but every band you like was way into them. 

I’m one of those folks who never got over my dinosaur obsession, I still think about them all the time. That’s why I adore all of the dinosaur tattoos in this gallery. Clearly, these folks are on the same page as I am. I may have never realized my dream of becoming a dinosaur when I grew up, but I can enjoy these glorious dinosaur tattoos.