Researchers in northern Canada have noticed a rare case of polar bear adoption, capturing video of a wild bear caring for a cub that isn’t hers.

“Adopting cubs is relatively rare in polar bears. We have documented 13 cases in our study population over the past 45 years,” said Evan Richardson, a scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The footage of a fur seal caring for an adopted cub was captured during the annual polar bear migration along the river Western Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba, widely known as the polar capital of the world.

Canadian researchers encountered the mother in the spring as she was leaving her maternity den. She had only one cub, which was tagged – a common practice to aid population studies.

They met the same mother again a few weeks ago, but saw another cub without an ear tag, Richardson told AFP.

“When we went back and looked at the data, we realized she had adopted another cub,” he said.

The videos collected by the researchers show the cubs surveying the snow-covered landscape, while the mother walks behind them, and one sequence in which one cub rushes to join the others.

Both cubs are 10 to 11 months old and will likely stay with their mother until about 2.5 years old.

“When we got confirmation that it was an adoption, I had a lot of mixed feelings, but mostly good feelings,” said Alysa McCall, a scientist at Polar Bears International. video provided to CBC. “It’s just another reason why this species is so amazing, why they’re so fascinating and interesting, and it gives you a lot of hope when you realize that maybe polar bears are looking out for each other.”

The researchers currently have no information on what happened to the biological mother of the adopted cub.

But having a mother figure increases a cub’s chances of surviving into adulthood, Richardson said.

“It’s a really good story to know that this fur seal is taking care of this cub and that it has a chance to survive,” Richardson said.

“These female polar bears are such good moms, they are maternally prepared to take care of their offspring, and when a lonely cub is out in the tundra, howling and crying, they just take it in,” he added.

There are currently about 26,000 polar bears worldwide, according to the nonprofit Polar Bears International. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists polar bears as a vulnerable species, he says loss of sea ice climate change is the biggest threat to their survival.

This is not the first time that wild animals have been observed with babies that are not their own. Earlier this year, scientists said The video showed capuchin monkeys carrying at least 11 howler babies in Panama.

At first, the researchers thought it was a “touching story about a strange capuchin who adopted these infants,” said Zoë Goldsborough, a behavioral ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Germany.

But Goldsborough said they eventually realized the abductions were a social tradition or “fad” among young male capuchins on the island, and in most or all cases the howler babies died.