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Researchers monitoring wild polar bears in northern Canada witnessed something remarkably uncommon this autumn: a mother bear adopting a cub that was not genetically her own.

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

"It's unusual," remarked a researcher with a polar bear conservation group. "We don't really know why it occurs...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 emerged from her maternity den this spring. At the time, she had a single offspring, which researchers marked for study.

In the fall, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and a second that was untagged. Researchers aren't sure what became of the second cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to locate her using DNA analysis.

"These animals need all the help they can get these days with climate change," noted a wildlife biologist. "If females have the opportunity to pick up an additional youngster and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the bears."

Polar bears in the natural world only have a 50% chance of living into adulthood, but having a maternal figure providing care improves their chances.

The cubs are reported as healthy, according to experts, and they will probably remain 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 learn from their mother 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.