Scientists monitoring wild polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something remarkably uncommon 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 observed and captured on camera during the yearly polar bear journey along the Hudson Bay's western shore near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an locale renowned for its polar bear population.
"This is uncommon," stated a researcher with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it happens...but we know it is a rare event at all."
It's only the 13th known case of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears researched for nearly five decades in that region.
The mother bear was first captured as she came out from her birthing den this spring. At the time, she had a single offspring, which scientists tagged for research.
In the autumn, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and a second that was untagged. Scientists are uncertain what happened to the second cub's biological mother, but they are attempting to identify her using DNA analysis.
"These animals need all the help they can get in the current era with climate change," noted a wildlife biologist. "If females have the opportunity to pick up an additional youngster and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a good thing for the bears."
Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into maturity, but having a mother caring for them boosts their odds.
The cubs are reported as healthy, according to experts, and they will likely stay with their adoptive mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.
Following this, the family is expected to venture out to sea ice, where the youngsters will be taught from their mother how to catch prey and live on their own.
"It is heartening to know that the bears are looking out for each other," added the researcher.
