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

The half-decade-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and filmed during the yearly polar bear journey along the Western Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, an area renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.

"It's unusual," remarked a scientist with a polar bear conservation group. "We don't really know why it happens...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."

This represents only the 13th known case of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears studied for almost fifty years in that region.

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

In the autumn, she was seen again, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and another that was untagged. Scientists aren't sure what became of the new cub's biological mother, but they are trying to identify her using DNA analysis.

"These animals need all the help they can get these days with a warming climate," noted a wildlife biologist. "If females have the opportunity 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 maturity, but having a maternal figure caring for them improves their chances.

The cubs appear to be healthy, according to experts, and they will likely 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 learn from their mother how to catch prey and live on their own.

"It's just nice to know that the bears are looking out for each other," added the researcher.