Arctic Bear Maternal Figure Takes In Cub in Infrequently Recorded Case
Scientists tracking free-roaming polar bears in northern Canada witnessed something exceedingly rare this autumn: a mother bear adopting a cub that was not biologically her own.
The half-decade-old mother and her 10- to 11-month-old cubs were spotted and filmed during the yearly polar bear journey along the Western Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, an locale renowned for its polar bear population.
"It's unusual," stated a researcher with a polar bear conservation group. "We don't really know why it happens...but we know it is a rare event at all."
It's only the thirteenth documented instance of fostering out of nearly five thousand bears studied for almost fifty years in the area.
The female bear was initially tagged as she emerged from her birthing den this spring. At the time, she had one cub, which researchers marked for study.
In the fall, she was spotted once more, but this time with two cubs - the initially tagged cub and a second that was untagged. Researchers aren't sure what became of the new cub's birth mother, but they are attempting to identify her using DNA analysis.
"The bears need all the help they can get in the current era with climate change," commented a wildlife biologist. "When mother bears have the chance to take in another cub and care for it and successfully wean it, it's a good thing for the population."
Polar bears in the wild only have a fifty-fifty survival rate of surviving into adulthood, but having a mother caring for them improves their odds.
The cubs appear to be healthy, according to experts, and they will likely stay with their mother until they are about two-and-a-half years old.
Next, the family is anticipated to head out to the frozen ocean, where the cubs will learn from their mother how to catch prey and live on their own.
"It is heartening to know that the bears are looking out for each other," added the scientist.
