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

The five-year-old maternal bear and her nearly year-old cubs were spotted and filmed during the yearly polar bear migration along the Hudson Bay's western shore near Churchill, Manitoba, an area known for its concentration of Arctic bears.

"It's unusual," remarked 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 thirteenth documented instance 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 maternity den this springtime. At the time, she had a single offspring, which researchers tagged for study.

In the autumn, she was spotted once more, but this time with a pair of cubs - the original cub and another that was untagged. Researchers are uncertain what happened to the new cub's biological mother, but they are attempting to locate her using DNA analysis.

"The bears need all the help they can get in the current era with a warming climate," commented a wildlife biologist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in another cub and raise it and see it to independence, it's a positive development for the bears."

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

The cubs appear to be healthy, researchers said, and they will probably stay with their mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.

Next, the bear family is expected to head out to the frozen ocean, where the cubs will learn from their mother how to hunt seals and survive on their own.

"It's just nice to know that the animals are caring for each other," added the researcher.