(NewsNation) — Researchers who were tracking wild polar bears in northern Canada witnessed a rare moment: a mother polar bear adopting a cub.
Polar Bears International, a nonprofit conservation group, first spotted the mother polar bear in spring coming out of her maternity den with just one cub in Manitoba. Weeks later, they found the same two polar bears, a mother and her cub, but found an additional one that was not hers.
“When we got confirmation that this was an adoption, I had a lot of mixed feelings, but mostly good,” Alysa McCall with Polar Bears International told CBC. “It’s just another reason why this species is so incredible, why they’re so fascinating and interesting, and it gives you a lot of hope when you realize that polar bears may be looking out for each other out there.”
This marks only the 13th known case of adoption among the 4,600 bears that live in Manitoba, which have been studied for the last 45 years.
At this time, researchers do not know what happened to the adopted cub’s biological mother. The cub, however, has a better likelihood of surviving to adulthood with the maternal figure in its life, researcher Evan Richardson said.
Both cubs are around 10 to 11 months old and will likely stay with their mother until about 2.5 years of age. Researchers said the mother cub is likely around 5 years old.
