Arctic Ursine Mother Takes In Cub in Rarely Recorded Instance
Scientists tracking free-roaming polar bears in northern Canada observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a mother bear taking in a cub that was not genetically her own.
The half-decade-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and filmed during the annual polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay's western shore near the Manitoba town of Churchill, an locale renowned for its concentration of Arctic bears.
"It's unusual," stated a scientist with an international bear organization. "The reasons are unclear why it happens...but we know it doesn't happen often at all."
It's only the thirteenth documented instance of adoption out of 4,600 bears studied for almost fifty years in that region.
The mother bear was initially tagged as she came out from her maternity den this springtime. Initially, she had one cub, which scientists marked for research.
In the fall, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the original cub and a second without a tag. Researchers aren't sure what happened to the second cub's biological mother, but they are attempting to identify her using DNA analysis.
"These animals need all the help they can get these days with climate change," noted a polar bear scientist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in an additional youngster and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the bears."
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 are reported as healthy, according to experts, 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 youngsters will be taught from their mother bear how to catch prey and survive on their own.
"It's just nice to know that the bears are looking out for each other," concluded the researcher.
