🔗 Share this article

Researchers tracking free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a female bear adopting a cub that was not genetically her own.

The five-year-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the yearly polar bear migration along the Western Hudson Bay near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an area known for its polar bear population.

"It's unusual," remarked a scientist with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it happens...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."

It's only the 13th known case of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears studied for nearly five decades in the area.

The mother bear was first captured as she came out from her birthing den this springtime. At the time, she had a single offspring, which scientists marked for study.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the original cub and a second without a tag. Scientists aren't sure what happened to the new cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using genetic samples.

"These animals need all the help they can get these days with climate change," noted a polar bear scientist. "When mother bears have the chance to pick up an additional youngster and raise it and see it to independence, it's a good thing for the bears."

Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into maturity, but having a mother caring for them improves their chances.

The young bears are reported as in good condition, according to experts, and they will probably stay with their adoptive mother until they are about 30 months of age.

Following this, the bear family is anticipated to head out to the frozen ocean, where the cubs will be taught from their mother how to hunt seals and live on their own.

"It is heartening to know that the animals are looking out for each other," added the scientist.