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Researchers tracking free-roaming polar bears in northern Canada witnessed something exceedingly rare this fall: a female bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.

The five-year-old maternal bear and her 10- to 11-month-old cubs were observed 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 concentration of Arctic bears.

"This is uncommon," remarked a researcher with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it occurs...but we know it is a rare event at all."

It's only the thirteenth documented instance of fostering 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. At the time, she had a single offspring, which researchers marked for research.

In the fall, 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 attempting to locate her using DNA analysis.

"The bears need all the help they can get these days with a warming climate," noted a polar bear scientist. "When mother bears 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 wild only have a 50% chance of surviving into maturity, but having a maternal figure providing care improves their chances.

The cubs are reported as healthy, according to experts, and they will likely remain with their adoptive mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.

Next, the bear family is expected to head out to sea ice, where the cubs will learn from their mother bear how to hunt seals and live on their own.

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