Arctic Bear Mother Takes In Youngster in Rarely Recorded Case
Researchers tracking 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 five-year-old maternal bear and her nearly year-old cubs were observed and filmed during the annual polar bear migration along the Western Hudson Bay near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an locale renowned for its polar bear population.
"This is uncommon," remarked a scientist with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it occurs...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."
This represents only the thirteenth documented instance 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 birthing den this spring. At the time, she had one cub, which scientists tagged for study.
In the fall, she was spotted once more, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and another 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.
"These animals need all the help they can get in the current era with a warming climate," commented a polar bear scientist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in another cub and care for it and see it to independence, it's a good thing for the bears."
Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into adulthood, but having a maternal figure providing care boosts their odds.
The cubs are reported as healthy, researchers said, and they will likely stay with their adoptive mother until they are about 30 months of age.
Following this, the bear family is anticipated to head out to the frozen ocean, where the youngsters will learn from their mother bear how to hunt seals and live on their own.
"It is heartening to know that the animals are looking out for each other," added the scientist.
