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Scientists monitoring wild polar bears in Canada's northern regions observed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a female bear taking in a cub that was not genetically her own.

The five-year-old mother and her nearly year-old cubs were observed and captured on camera during the annual 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," stated a scientist with a polar bear conservation group. "We don't really know why it occurs...but we know it is a rare event at all."

This represents only the 13th known case of fostering out of nearly five thousand bears studied for almost fifty years in that region.

The female bear was initially tagged as she came out from her maternity den this springtime. Initially, she had a single offspring, which researchers marked for study.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and another without a tag. Scientists aren't sure what happened to the second cub's biological mother, but they are attempting to locate her using genetic samples.

"These animals need all the help they can get these days with climate change," commented a polar bear scientist. "If females have the opportunity to take in an additional youngster and raise it and successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the population."

Polar bears in the wild only have a 50% chance of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother providing care improves their odds.

The young bears are reported as healthy, researchers said, and they will likely remain with their mother until they are about 30 months of age.

Next, the family is anticipated to head out to sea ice, where the youngsters will be taught from their mother bear how to hunt seals and survive on their own.

"It is heartening to know that the animals are caring for each other," concluded the scientist.