As lovers of animals and nature, many Brevard Zoo staff members wear their passions on their skin. Zoo Tattoos explores the stories behind these meaningful works of art. 

School programs supervisor Sarah brings her love for the ocean wherever she goes.

Sarah’s first tattoo, a manatee on her back, is a reminder of her manatee photo ID internship with FWC’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. The French angelfish on her left arm was inspired by her time as an education exhibit coordinator at Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium and dives in the Florida Keys. A more recent tattoo, located on her left hip, is a diagram of the Atlantic horseshoe crab, a species she studied as an undergraduate at Salisbury University and as a park ranger at Assateague Island National Seashore.

Sarah’s favorite animals live in the water, but she does have a soft spot for certain terrestrial creatures. The tattoo on her right arm is a tribute to Specky, a spectacled owl she worked with as an educator at Salisbury Zoo in Maryland.

“Tattoos are great conversation starters and there’s nothing I love talking about more than animals,” Sarah said. “My next tattoo is going to be a polar bear, which I hope will spark some dialogue about climate change and its impact on the Arctic.”