Polar bears, known for trekking miles across Arctic sea ice to hunt seals, are now facing an unusual and painful challenge: ice build-up on their feet.
A recent study in Ecology reveals that polar bears in East Greenland and Kane Basin—near northeastern Canada and northwestern Greenland—have suffered injuries including lacerations, skin ulcerations, and large blocks of ice on their foot pads, impeding their movement and leaving some with painful, bleeding wounds.
An ecologist at the University of Washington Kristin Laidre and a wildlife biologist from the Nunavut Department of the Environment Stephen Atkinson documented these injuries after repeated surveys of these northernmost polar bear populations.
In extreme cases, ice blocks up to one foot wide were lodged on bears’ paws, forcing researchers to spend up to 30 minutes scraping them off with metal tools. This phenomenon, observed in 32 bears in Kane Basin and 15 in East Greenland, constitutes 52 per cent and 12 per cent of the respective populations studied—levels unprecedented among polar bears, according to Laidre.
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The initial signs were noticed by Atkinson in 2012 and 2013 in Kane Basin, and again by Laidre in East Greenland from 2018 to 2022. The researchers suspect these injuries are a consequence of the warming Arctic climate.
Rising temperatures have led to more rain in these regions, creating slushy conditions on the ice, which then refreeze onto the bears’ paws, forming ice blocks and sharp ice crusts that can lacerate their skin. Bears in more southerly areas might have access to water where they could dislodge ice, but in the high latitudes of Kane Basin and East Greenland, the bears rarely encounter open water, making ice removal difficult.
The study also gathered perspectives from local Indigenous hunters who, while noting that such injuries were uncommon among bears, reported similar issues in sled dogs navigating slushy ice.
“This situation is remarkable, especially as most previous reports of ice balls on polar bears were limited to smaller, less severe formations on their backs after swimming,” said Andrew Derocher, a University of Alberta ecologist, who was not involved in the study. “The level of foot damage in these northern populations is unusual and suggests they’re facing changing conditions.”
Polar Bears International’s chief scientist, John Whiteman, further emphasized the severity of the injuries: “The injuries observed here were so severe that some bears seemed unable to recover on their own, displaying a visible limp due to the pain.”
As sea ice continues to thin in parts of the Arctic, the bears’ winter and spring habitats, including landfast ice and glacier-fed ice, are likely becoming less stable, raising questions about how these crucial species will adapt. Though these injuries have not been documented in other polar bear regions, the researchers caution that the trend could grow, particularly if Arctic warming continues at its current rate.
“The Arctic’s climate transformation is accelerating, and polar bear scientists are watching carefully to see how bears adapt,” said Derocher. “This research adds yet another layer of complexity to the struggles faced by polar bears, underscoring the sometimes hidden impacts of a warming climate on the Arctic’s wildlife.”
