Arctic Bear Mother Takes In Youngster in Infrequently Recorded Case
Researchers monitoring free-roaming polar bears in northern Canada observed something exceedingly rare this fall: a female bear taking in a cub that was not genetically her own.
The half-decade-old maternal bear and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and captured on camera during the annual polar bear migration along the Western Hudson Bay near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an area known 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 happens...but we know it is a rare event at all."
It's only the thirteenth documented instance of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears researched for almost fifty years in the area.
The mother bear was initially tagged as she emerged from her birthing den this spring. At the time, she had one cub, which scientists tagged for research.
In the autumn, she was seen again, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and a second without a tag. Researchers aren't sure what became of the second cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to locate her using genetic samples.
"The bears need every advantage 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 successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the population."
Polar bears in the natural world only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into maturity, but having a mother providing care improves their odds.
The cubs appear to be healthy, according to experts, and they will probably stay with their mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.
Following this, the family is anticipated to venture out to sea ice, where the youngsters will learn from their mother bear how to hunt seals and survive on their own.
"It's just nice to know that the bears are caring for each other," added the scientist.