🔗 Share this article

Researchers monitoring free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something remarkably uncommon this fall: a female bear adopting a cub that was not genetically her own.

The five-year-old maternal bear and her 10- to 11-month-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the yearly polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay's western shore near Churchill, Manitoba, an area known for its polar bear population.

"It's unusual," remarked a researcher with a polar bear conservation group. "We don't really know why it occurs...but we know it is a rare event at all."

This represents only the thirteenth documented instance of fostering out of 4,600 bears studied for almost fifty years in the area.

The mother bear was initially tagged as she emerged from her birthing den this springtime. Initially, she had one cub, which scientists tagged for research.

In the fall, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and another that was untagged. Researchers aren't sure what happened to the new cub's birth mother, but they are trying to identify her using DNA analysis.

"The bears need all the help they can get these days with climate change," noted a polar bear scientist. "If females have the opportunity to pick up another cub and raise it and see it to independence, it's a positive development for the population."

Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into maturity, but having a maternal figure caring for them boosts their odds.

The cubs are reported as in good condition, researchers said, and they will likely remain with their adoptive mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.

Next, the bear family is anticipated to head out to the frozen ocean, where the youngsters will learn from their mother how to catch prey and survive on their own.

"It is heartening to know that the bears are caring for each other," added the scientist.