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Scientists tracking free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions observed something exceedingly rare this fall: a female bear adopting 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 the Manitoba town of Churchill, an locale known for its polar bear population.

"It's unusual," stated a scientist with a polar bear conservation group. "The reasons are unclear why it occurs...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."

This represents only the thirteenth documented instance of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears studied for nearly five decades in the area.

The female bear was first captured as she came out from her birthing den this spring. Initially, she had one cub, which researchers marked for study.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with a pair of cubs - the initially tagged cub and another that was untagged. Scientists aren't sure what became of the second cub's birth mother, but they are trying to locate her using DNA analysis.

"These animals need all the help they can get in the current era with climate change," commented a wildlife biologist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in 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 living into adulthood, but having a maternal figure caring for them boosts their odds.

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

Following this, the bear family is expected to venture out to sea ice, where the youngsters will be taught from their mother bear how to catch prey and live on their own.

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