Semantics

Один из участников экспедиции отморозил себе пальцы на руках. One of the members of the expedition got frostbitten fingers.
Russian differs from English in that the word палец may mean either "finger" or "toe." Only the meaning "finger" is described in this entry, as well as the corresponding part of an animal's paw, "digit." Common sense will dictate which words and expressions can be used to refer to an animal's digits. Because of the potential ambiguity of the Russian word палец "finger; toe" the following four expressions are used to distinguish between toes and fingers:
пальцы рукg (or на рукахp) fingers
пальцы ногg (or на ногахp) toes
Without any such indication and without a clear context, the word палец is more likely to be understood to mean "finger" than "toe."

The word палец may also refer to the finger of a glove or mitten, a meaning not described in this dictionary.