Arctic Bear Maternal Figure Adopts Cub in Rarely Recorded Instance
Scientists tracking free-roaming polar bears in Canada's northern regions witnessed something remarkably uncommon this fall: a female bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.
The five-year-old maternal bear and her 10- to 11-month-old cubs were spotted and filmed during the annual polar bear migration along the Western Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, an area renowned for its polar bear population.
"It's unusual," remarked a researcher with a polar bear conservation group. "The reasons are unclear why it happens...but we know it is a rare event at all."
It's only the 13th known case of adoption out of nearly five thousand bears researched for almost fifty years in that region.
The female bear was initially tagged as she came out from her maternity den this spring. Initially, she had one cub, which scientists marked for study.
In the fall, she was spotted once more, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and a second that was untagged. Scientists are uncertain what happened to the new cub's birth mother, but they are trying to locate her using genetic samples.
"These animals need every advantage they can get in the current era with a warming climate," commented a wildlife biologist. "If females have the chance to pick up an additional youngster and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a positive development for the bears."
Polar bears in the wild only have a 50% chance of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother caring for them boosts their odds.
The cubs appear to be healthy, researchers said, and they will probably remain with their adoptive mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.
Next, the family is expected to head out to sea ice, where the youngsters will learn from their mother how to hunt seals and live on their own.
"It is heartening to know that the bears are caring for each other," added the researcher.
