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Researchers monitoring wild polar bears in Canada's northern regions observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a mother bear taking in a cub that was not biologically her own.

The half-decade-old mother and her 10- to 11-month-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the annual polar bear journey along the Western Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, an area renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.

"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."

This represents only the 13th known case of adoption out of 4,600 bears studied for almost fifty years in the area.

The female bear was initially tagged as she came out from her maternity den this springtime. Initially, she had a single offspring, which scientists marked for study.

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

"These animals need every advantage they can get these days with climate change," commented a wildlife biologist. "When mother bears have the chance to pick up another cub and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a good thing for the bears."

Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into maturity, but having a maternal figure providing care improves their odds.

The cubs appear to be healthy, researchers said, and they will likely remain with their mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.

Next, the family is expected to head out to sea ice, 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 looking out for each other," concluded the researcher.