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Researchers monitoring free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something exceedingly rare this fall: a female 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 observed and captured on camera during the yearly polar bear journey along the Western Hudson Bay near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an locale known for its polar bear population.

"This is uncommon," remarked a scientist 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 13th known case of adoption out of 4,600 bears studied for almost fifty years in that region.

The mother bear was initially tagged as she came out from her birthing den this spring. At the time, she had one cub, which researchers marked for study.

In the autumn, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and a second that was untagged. Researchers are uncertain what happened to the new cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using genetic samples.

"These animals need every advantage they can get these days with a warming climate," commented a polar bear scientist. "If females have the opportunity to pick up another cub and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a good thing for the population."

Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother providing care improves their odds.

The young bears are reported as healthy, researchers said, and they will probably stay with their mother until they are about 30 months of age.

Following this, the family is expected to head out to the frozen ocean, where the cubs will be taught from their mother bear how to hunt seals and survive on their own.

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