Researchers monitoring wild polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a mother bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.
The five-year-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were observed and captured on camera during the annual polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay's western shore near Churchill, Manitoba, an locale known for its concentration of Arctic bears.
"It's unusual," remarked a researcher with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it occurs...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."
It's only the thirteenth documented instance of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears studied for almost fifty years in that region.
The mother bear was initially tagged as she emerged from her birthing den this spring. At the time, she had one cub, which scientists tagged for study.
In the fall, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and a second without a tag. Scientists are uncertain what became of the new cub's birth mother, but they are trying to locate her using genetic samples.
"These animals need every advantage they can get in the current era with climate change," noted a polar bear scientist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in another cub and raise it and successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the population."
Polar bears in the natural world only have a 50% chance of living into adulthood, but having a maternal figure caring for them improves their odds.
The cubs are reported as in good condition, according to experts, and they will probably stay with their adoptive mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.
Next, the bear family is expected to head out to sea ice, where the cubs will learn from their mother bear how to catch prey and survive on their own.
"It is heartening to know that the bears are looking out for each other," concluded the researcher.
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