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Scientists monitoring wild polar bears in northern Canada witnessed something remarkably uncommon this autumn: a mother bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.

The half-decade-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 Churchill, Manitoba, an locale renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.

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

This represents only the 13th known case of adoption out of 4,600 bears studied for nearly five decades in the area.

The female bear was initially tagged as she came out from her birthing den this spring. Initially, she had one cub, which scientists marked for study.

In the fall, she was seen again, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and another that was untagged. Researchers are uncertain what happened to the second cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using genetic samples.

"The bears need all the help they can get these days with climate change," commented a wildlife biologist. "If females have the chance to take in an additional youngster and raise it and see it to independence, it's a good thing for the population."

Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of living into maturity, but having a mother providing care boosts their odds.

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

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

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