Polar bears are suffering horrific injuries and giant “ice balls” on their paws due to climate change, researchers say

Polar bears are suffering horrific wounds to their paws due to changing ice conditions in the Arctic, according to a new study.

In the most severe cases, researchers describe two bears with crippling, plate-sized ice balls stuck to their feet. Beneath the ice balls, the bears' paw pads were covered in deep, bleeding cuts.

“I had never seen this before,” said the study’s lead author Kristin Laidrea marine ecologist and associate professor at the University of Washington said in a opinion. “The two most affected bears couldn’t run – they couldn’t even walk easily.”

This is the first time scientists have observed such injuries in polar bears, says the study published Oct. 22 in the journal ecology.

The paralyzing ice balls were likely caused by slushy snow stuck between the bumps in the pads that give polar bears the grip they need to walk on slippery surfaces. The snow accumulated on the pads and then solidified, researchers suspect, forming blocks of ice 12 inches (30 centimeters) in diameter.

Related: A bleak photo of a polar bear with plastic in its mouth in the remote Arctic shows the “pervasive influence” of pollution

“The chunks of ice didn’t just get stuck in the hair,” said Laidre. “They were connected to the skin, and when you felt the feet you could tell the bears were in pain.”

Researchers say that about one in four polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from two populations in northern Greenland whose feet they suffered from ice-related injuries. The affected bears were predominantly adult males, which tend to travel longer distances and are much heavier than females or cubs.

Laidre and co-author of the study Stephen Atkinsona wildlife biologist and veterinarian, studied polar bears from populations in East Greenland and the Kane Basin – a waterway between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island called Ellesmere Island – between 2012 and 2022 before conducting routine health checks.

Thirty-one of 61 bears in the Kane Basin population had cuts, skin ulcers, hair loss or ice formation on their paws. According to the study, 73% of adult men in this population were affected between 2012 and 2013. In the East Greenland population, 15 out of 124 polar bears had similar injuries between 2018 and 2022.

Three polar bears walk across the ice in eastern Greenland. Bear tracks crisscross the ice.

Three adult polar bears travel across the sea ice in East Greenland. Areas in the far north that would have remained well below freezing are now experiencing freeze-thaw cycles and wet snow due to the warming climate. (Image credit: Kristin Laidre/University of Washington)

Researchers suggested several explanations for the wounds and interviewed indigenous hunters to determine possible causes. Ice formation and cuts may occur rising temperatures in the ArcticThe scientists suggested that warm periods lead to wet snow and freeze-thaw cycles that create brittle ice on which polar bears cut their feet.

Climate change leads to more frequent rainfall in the Arctic, turning the snow into slush that gets stuck in polar bears' paws and freezes there, they write in the study. In warmer temperatures, the surface snow also melts and then freezes again into a hard crust that heavy polar bears break when they trample over it and injure themselves.

Local hunters in the Kane Basin knew about the injuries to the polar bears' feet and attributed them to increased movement during mating and hunting seasons. But hunters also recognized these injuries as a recent phenomenon. They mentioned that wet snow conditions also have a negative impact on sled dogs. According to the study, hunters found that they now need to trim the hair between their dogs' pads to prevent ice buildup and lameness.

John WhitemanAssistant professor of biology at Old Dominion University in Virginia and senior research scientist for the nonprofit organization Polar Bears Internationalsaid he had never seen or heard of such injuries before.

“This report is definitely surprising,” Whiteman, who was not involved in the new study, told Live Science in an email. “If conditions conducive to ice clump formation occur more frequently over a large area, more bears will be at risk of foot injury.”

Polar bears are suffering horrific injuries and giant “ice balls” on their paws due to climate change, researchers say

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