Ram Skull Tattoo Meaning, Designs & Ideas

Of all of the animal skull tattoos, the ram skull might be the most popular. Not only is it a great looking tattoo, it also holds many meanings for people. Many see the ram as the perfect animal to represent power because of its fearlessness.

The skull with thick, curling horns and long, slender visage is unique among animal skull tattoos and invokes a ghostly image. This particular skull can be a representation of the occult and because of its associations with death and sacrifice, it has been linked to Satanism and witchcraft.

Countless metal bands have adopted the skull as a part of their group identity and promote an antisocial attitude rather than an actual involvement with Satanism. The ram skull in this way in a symbol of counterculture that is not necessarily meant to be understood; the misunderstanding is a part of it.

Ram Tattoo Meaning

Thousands of years ago, the ram was worshipped for its strength, determination, and leadership. The ram skull has been a symbol of paganism and because of that, it has been counted as a symbol that is specifically unchristian leading to controversy around the image. However, it has little to do with Christianity at all and much more to do with Horned deities found in Wicca and other neopagan religions. The Horned God was seen as the male parallel to the Triple Goddess and represented nature and creation. This can be symbolized very simply and vaguely with a crescent resting horizontally on a circle, leaving the image open for interpretation.

The ram is the animal that represents the zodiac sign Aries. Aries’ traits include confidence, enthusiasm, optimism, and passion. Being the first of the zodiac signs, it holds extra meaning for people since it is at the front of the line. This, of course, could be yet another way for the ram skull tattoo to represent power. In the origins of modern astrology, a mix of Greek and Babylonian folklore, the horned, winged ram is revered for its golden fleece which brings fortune in leadership. Tattoo designs intended to convey this myth often incorporate constellations of stars and other celestial bodies, displaying the ram’s skull as a symbol of conquering.

The ram skull tattoo could hold any of the meanings above, or many others. One or those meanings could be danger and/or mystery. The skull with horns design is a unique and possibly intimidating one because of the popular association between the horned ram and the occult. It is often designed in the center of a pentagram to ensure this association is made clear, using dark tones and deep shades of crimson. To soften and feminize the ram skull and disassociate with any occult representations, flowers, particularly desert blooms or traditional tattoo-style roses, are added into the piece. Chains, jewels, and lace may be included as well. Floral patterns are sometimes designed to appear etched into the bone to create an interesting contrast between life and death in nature.

Rams’ horns hold a ton of meaning all themselves. It is one of the only animals that have a natural “crown” on top of their heads, so it’s not hard to see why the image of a ram screams power to some people. Those who seek power or already feel like powerful people might see the ram skull tattoo to be the perfect design for them. Literal crowns and other images of royalty are incorporated into some designs to emphasize the regality of the symbol.

Combining the ram itself with the skull, this tattoo can represent a fearlessness of death. It actually works perfectly for that meaning since the ram is known for being one of the most fearless animals around and the skull is a death symbol. The person who gets this tattoo for this reason could want to intimidate others or he or she simply wants to send the message that they are willing to take risks.

The ram skull tattoo can also be used as a demonic symbol. Skulls with horns can be seen to represent the devil, so it makes sense that the ram skull came to represent the same thing. Considering that this is the meaning that can come across to people, it is important that you realize that before committing to the ram skull tattoo.

In some cases, the ram skull tattoo meaning isn’t very deep at all. It is an extremely cool design, so some people get it just because it stands out from the crowd of tattoo designs that they look at. Animal tattoos will always be popular, but the ram is different than most others because of its unique horns. On top of that, skulls of all kinds have always been popular tattoo designs, so combining those two elements is too tempting to pass up for some people.

Ram Tattoo Variations

The ram tattoo is one that is very obvious. It is a symbol that is strong and stands out but there are some different ways that people have the ram tattooed on their body. Below are just a few examples of some of the variations of the ram tattoo that we have seen and what they symbolize.

Ram Skull Tattoo

The ram skull tattoo is a very popular way to have the ram tattooed. In many ancient societies the ram skull is very symbolic and is said to symbolize initiative, action, leadership and determination. Not only is it very symbolic, it is just a bad ass looking tattoo.

Rams Fighting Tattoo

Rams fighting is a sign of strength for many people. It is a sign of showing dominance as the males fight for the right to run the herd and mate with the females. This tattoo can be the feature image of a backpiece or a sleeve.

Tribal Ram

The ram has a history in many ancient cultures and the tribal ram tattoo is one that seems to be popular with those of island heritage. It looks great and holds a lot of significance for those that get the tribal ram tattoo.

About Rams

Male bighorn sheep are rams and they often reside in the mountains. What we know of them is they have the big horns on their head and they settle fights by smashing horns into one another. Many confuse rams with mountain goats but they are not the same thing. You can identify a ran by their split hooves, long fur and their big, curved horns. The ram is the relative of cattle, goats, bison, antelopes and buffalo.

Rams are somewhere around 5 or 6 feet long from tail to head and they weigh anywhere from 265 pounds to 280 pounds. However, the ram can grow bigger than that and, in some cases, they will reach around 300 pounds. An interesting fact about rams is that their horns weight more than all of their bones combined. Their horns can weight 30 pounds by themselves. The Ewe, or the female ram, generally weighs around 40 pounds less than their male counterpart.

Rams are native to the Rocky Mountain area of North America. This ranges from Mexico, through the United States into Canada. Their hooves are what make them unique and able to live in the rocky parts of the mountains. Their hooves are rough on the bottom and split so they can grip onto small ledges. In addition to being able to balance on all parts of the mountain, they can also run up a mountain at around 15 mph and they can jump over 20 feet. The only animal in the world that can climb mountains better than the ram is the mountain goat.

Rams have great eyesight which is important for judging the distance on their jumps. In addition to spotting their jumps, they can see other animals from miles away.

For bighorn sheep, the females live in nursery herds with up to 100 members and it includes lambs of bother genders and the females. Groups of males travel with up to 50 members and according to specialists, engage in homosexual activities at times.

The fun stuff is when you see the rams fight. They do this because they are trying to determine who will be the dominant male in the group of rams. You will know they are fighting when you see these rams rear up on their hind legs and then run full speed into each other at speeds of up to 40 mph sometimes. When one of the rams walks away, he has submitted to the other and they will take over leadership of the group.

In terms of what the rams eat, they are strictly herbivores. You will find rams usually eating plants, grass and seeds. Their diet will change based on the season. In the winter time, rams will eat plants that are “woody” like rabbit brush, willow and sage and in the summer, they will eat sedges and grasses. In addition to the time of year, it depends on the kind of bighorn to determine what they eat. An example of this are the desert bighorns that desert cactus and desert holly.

To help with eating their food, the ram has a split upper lip. What this does is enable the ram to pick and choose the leaves that they want to eat. Another part of their anatomy that is made to help them eat are their hooves which are split. Not only are they good for traction and climbing but they are used to get the spines out of cacti so they can get to the juice inside and eat the cactus.

An odd thing about their digestion process is the chewing of their own cud. This means they regurgitate their food that they have eaten and continue to chew on it.

Offspring

When rams fight for the right to be the dominant male in the herd, the benefit is to have the right to mate with the females. This time comes in the fall and it is called the rut. Until they are around 3 years old, the males aren’t strong enough to mate.

The gestation period is around 25 weeks or 175 days. They birth one lamb at a time and they give birth high on the ledges of the mountains to protect the young from predators. When the lambs are born, they are usually dependent on their mother for the first six months of their life even though they can walk immediately after birth. It’s a tough life for the lambs as an average of around 30% don’t live to be adults and sometimes the percentages could be as high as 80% mortality rate.

The ram’s personality is precocial and gregarious. They are essentially defenseless and that is why they live in packs. It is for protection against all the predators that are out there. They also keep a safe zone with their groups in that they keep a certain amount of distance between their groups and other animals.

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