I thought I’d post this old shot, as it might be of interest to some folks. A photo showing the different size and shapes of claws from various species of American bears. From left to right, the claws are: black bear, polar bear, grizzly bear, coastal brown bear or Kodiak bear. The polar bear is the only true carnivore out of those species, but it’s claws are but a fraction of the size of those belonging to the great grizzly, and in particular, the coastal brown bear.
What Makes Each Species’ Claws Different
The claws in that photo tell you everything about how each bear makes a living.
Polar bear claws run about 3.75 inches. Shorter than you’d expect for the largest bear. Deeply curved, almost like fish hooks. Black, like their footpads. Designed for gripping ice and seals, not excavating frozen ground.
Black bear claws measure 1 to 2 inches, sharply curved like climbing hooks. Dark brown to black in color. Built for going up trees, not digging holes.
Grizzly claws stretch 2 to 4 inches on average, but big interior bears can push 4.5 inches. Longer, less curved than black bear claws. Often pale – tan, ivory, cream colored. Purpose-built shovels.
Coastal brown bears and Kodiaks? Those claws can hit 6 inches. Same basic design as interior grizzlies, just scaled up with the body size. When you’re an 1,200 pound bear pulling salmon out of rivers, everything gets bigger.
Bear claws, and particularly the grizzly claws, were long revered as a symbol of power, both physical and spiritual, to many Native American Indian cultures; wearing the bear claw was often only an earned respect. Anyone’s who’s seen this fearsome weaponry up close can attest as to why.
Grizzly Bear Claws
Those massive claws aren’t just for show. A grizzly’s shoulder hump – the thing that identifies them from a distance – is pure muscle. Muscle that powers those claws through frozen earth when they’re digging winter dens or excavating ground squirrel burrows three feet underground.
The same claw length that makes grizzlies such effective diggers is exactly what keeps adult grizzlies out of trees. Grizzly cubs can climb when their claws are still short and curved, but once those front claws grow past 3 inches, forget it. The claws are too long and too straight to hook into bark effectively. Add 600 pounds of bear to the equation and you’ve got a terrestrial animal, whether it likes it or not.
That pale coloration on grizzly claws provides a reliable field marker, by the way. Black bears keep their dark claws regardless of fur color. Grizzlies often sport those light-colored “ivory” claws. Helps when you’re trying to identify tracks or scat in the backcountry.
The relationship of the polar bear and the grizzly bear is interesting. Polar bears are believed to have split off from the grizzly bear lineage approximately 150 000 years ago in a time of global climate cooling – arctic living skills became an advantage. So the polar bears stayed in the north, and the grizzlies enjoyed the warmer climes further south. Rarely did the 2 run into each other.
Why Polar Bear Claws Are Surprisingly Small
Here’s the thing that doesn’t make sense until you think about it: polar bears are huge. Males average 700 to 1,500 pounds. That’s bigger than most grizzlies. So why are their claws shorter?
Because polar bears don’t dig.
Think about what a polar bear does. Hunts seals on sea ice. Swims in the Arctic Ocean. Maybe digs out a maternity den in a snowbank once in a while if you’re a pregnant female. That’s it. No roots to excavate. No ground squirrels to dig up. No frozen tundra to punch through for a winter den.
Why Are They Shaped Like That?
Long, straight shovel claws would be dead weight. Worse, they’d create drag in the water and struggle to grip wet seals.
So polar bear claws evolved shorter, more curved, more hooked. They function like gaffs for holding slippery prey and like crampons for traction on ice. Recent research found that polar bear paw pads have bumps (papillae) that stand 1.5 times taller than brown bear pads, creating 30 to 50% more friction on snow and ice. The claws and pads work together as an integrated ice-gripping system.
It’s elegant engineering. Give the animal exactly what it needs for its habitat, nothing more.
Climate Change Brings Conflicts
Now, it seems that global warming is bringing the 2 species into some conflict. Until 1996, for example, grizzlies had never been seen in Wapusk National Park area in Manitoba, Canada. Between 1996 and 2008 there were 9 grizzly bear sightings, and 3 more observed just last summer (source).
The grizzly sightings in polar bear country aren’t just increasing. They’re creating something new: hybrid bears.
Only 8 confirmed wild hybrids exist from 819 sampled bears, according to recent genetic studies. All trace back to a single female polar bear born in 1989 who mated with two different male grizzlies in Canada’s western Arctic. These “grolar” or “pizzly” bears show intermediate characteristics – including claws that are longer than polar bears’ but less hooked than grizzlies’.
Which makes them poorly adapted to both lifestyles. “Poor polar bears and poor grizzly bears”, as one researcher put it. Their mixed claws aren’t optimized for ice hunting or terrestrial digging.
At shared feeding sites like bowhead whale carcasses near Kaktovik, Alaska, up to 80 polar bears gather alongside grizzlies each fall. The grizzlies, though smaller, consistently dominate these encounters. More aggressive, more willing to fight over food. The polar bears, built for a solitary life hunting seals, generally back down and move away.
As Arctic sea ice declines at 13% per decade, these encounters will only increase.
Who Wins in a Fight
The grizzlies of the arctic are generally much smaller than their polar cousins, They also tend to be more aggressive and will readily drive all but the largest male polar bears off a food source. They also are a potential threat to polar bear cubs. So along with an ever-harder to find food source, polar bears may now be encumbered with a new threat – their old cousins, the big clawed grizzlies.
The poor old black bear sits at the bottom of the American bear tree. His hooked claws, at left, are good for climbing, and tearing open nylon stuff sacks, but he lacks the power to defend himself for his larger adversaries. The black bear’s strength apparently lies in his ability to break into automobiles in National Park parking lots and raid coolers. They’ve also been known to abscond from a backcountry campsite with a certain backpacking guide’s Teva sandal, but that’s another story.
Bear Claws as Sacred Objects
Grizzly claws held profound significance in Plains Indian cultures. Among the Pawnee, Lakota, Mandan, and Hidatsa, bear claw necklaces represented the highest symbol of warrior accomplishment. We’re not talking about a trinket here. These necklaces required years to assemble, sometimes containing 30 to 50 claws.
The Pawnee considered bears one of four great cosmic powers. Warriors believed wearing grizzly claws protected them from enemy arrows and bullets. A bear claw necklace in the 1830s rarely sold for less than twelve dollars, which was serious money at the time. Often they wouldn’t sell at all – owners simply refused any price.
Killing a grizzly was considered equivalent to killing an enemy in battle. Acquiring a necklace through warfare against rival tribes ranked even higher. The claws were carefully graduated by size, strung in opposing pairs, backed with otter fur, and painted with red ochre symbolizing blood and sacred power.
Today, grizzly bear parts are federally protected in the lower 48 states, and 35 states prohibit sale of bear parts entirely. The spiritual significance remains, but the objects themselves have largely passed into museums.
Interested in seeing some bears? Take a look at my Grizzlies in the Mist Tour
Cheers
Carl
