A polar bear mom has melted hearts across the globe after she took in an orphaned cub. Scientists shared that this moment was incredibly special because it happens so rarely in the wild. Learn how this polar bear mom ‘adopts’ an orphaned cub without a second thought.

Wild Polar Bear Mom ‘Adopts’ A Cub

PEOPLE shared the touching story of a wild polar bear mother who was kind enough to add one more to her family. Scientists got to witness this rare occurance while researching a group of polar bears in Canada.

This incredibly touching encounter was shared with CBC. In the video, the narrator explains how they studied and tagged the mother and her cub earlier in the year. However, when they returned later this year and noticed the second, untagged cub. That was when they knew the mother had taken him in.

Evan Richardson, a polar bear research scientist, told the otulet that “mother polar bears taking in cubs that aren’t biologically theirs is uncommon.” So, if it is so uncommon, what prompts a wild polar bear mom to ‘adopt’ an orphaned cub?

A Loving New Family

Richardson told the outlet that “cases of polar bear cub ‘adoption’ have been recorded only 13 times among about 4,600 polar bears over 45 years of observation.” However, one thing that the observations didn’t take into account was the pure motherly energy of the mama polar bears.

Richardson argued that these bears are so “maternally charged that they’ll refuse to leave a lone cub behind.” Seeing as that is exactly what happened here, I am inclined to believe him. It is very lucky for the cub as well, seeing as cubs only have a 50% chance of surviving into adulthood. Naturally, their odds improve significantly when they are cared for by a polar bear mama.

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