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Scientists tracking free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a female bear taking in a cub that was not genetically her own.

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

"This is uncommon," remarked a researcher with an international bear organization. "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 adoption out of nearly five thousand bears researched for almost fifty years in that region.

The female bear was initially tagged as she came out from her birthing den this spring. Initially, she had a single offspring, which researchers marked for research.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and another that was untagged. Scientists aren't sure what happened to the second cub's biological mother, but they are attempting to locate her using genetic samples.

"The bears need all the help they can get in the current era with a warming climate," noted a polar bear scientist. "If females have the chance to pick up another cub and raise it and see it to independence, it's a good thing for the bears."

Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother caring for them improves their chances.

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

Next, the bear family is expected to head out to sea ice, where the cubs will learn from their mother how to catch prey and live on their own.

"It's just nice to know that the animals are caring for each other," concluded the researcher.