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

The five-year-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the yearly polar bear journey along the Hudson Bay's western shore near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an area renowned for its polar bear population.

"It's unusual," stated a scientist with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it occurs...but we know it is a rare event at all."

This represents only the thirteenth documented instance of adoption out of 4,600 bears studied for nearly five decades in that region.

The mother bear was first captured as she emerged from her maternity den this springtime. At the time, she had one cub, which scientists marked for study.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the original cub and another without a tag. Scientists aren't sure what happened to the second cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using DNA analysis.

"The bears need every advantage they can get these days with climate change," noted 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 positive development for the population."

Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into maturity, but having a mother caring for them boosts their chances.

The young bears appear to be in good condition, researchers said, and they will probably stay with their mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.

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

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