Arctic Bear Mother Adopts Cub in Rarely Recorded Case

Researchers monitoring wild polar bears in northern Canada observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a female bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.

The half-decade-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were observed and filmed during the yearly polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay's western shore near Churchill, Manitoba, an locale renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.

"It's unusual," stated a scientist with an international bear organization. "We don't really know why it occurs...but we know it is a rare event at all."

It's only the thirteenth documented instance of fostering out of nearly five thousand bears studied for nearly five decades in the area.

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

In the fall, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the initially tagged cub and another without a tag. Researchers are uncertain what became of the second cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using genetic samples.

"These animals need every advantage they can get in the current era with a warming climate," commented a polar bear scientist. "If females have the chance to take in another cub and care for it and see it to independence, it's a good thing for the population."

Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother providing care boosts their chances.

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

Next, the family is expected to head out to the frozen ocean, where the youngsters will be taught from their mother how to hunt seals and live on their own.

"It is heartening to know that the animals are caring for each other," concluded the researcher.