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Researchers tracking wild polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something exceedingly rare this fall: a mother bear adopting a cub that was not genetically her own.

The five-year-old maternal bear and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the annual polar bear journey along the Western Hudson Bay near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an area renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.

"It's unusual," stated a researcher with an international bear organization. "We don't really know why it happens...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."

It's only the 13th known case of fostering out of 4,600 bears researched for almost fifty years in that region.

The mother 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 autumn, she was seen again, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and another that was untagged. Scientists are uncertain what became of the new cub's birth mother, but they are trying to identify her using genetic samples.

"The bears need every advantage they can get these days with a warming climate," commented a polar bear scientist. "If females have the chance to pick up an additional youngster and raise it and see it to independence, it's a positive development for the population."

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

The young bears appear to be healthy, researchers said, and they will likely remain with their adoptive mother until they are about 30 months of age.

Next, the bear family is expected to venture out to the frozen ocean, where the youngsters will be taught from their mother bear how to catch prey and survive on their own.

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