Overview
- Scientists first recorded the female leaving her den in March with a single, marked cub and re-sighted her in November with two cubs near Churchill’s Bird Cove.
- The second cub was unmarked, leading researchers to conclude it is unrelated to the mother and had been adopted.
- The event is the 13th documented adoption in roughly 45 years of regional monitoring that has tracked about 4,600 polar bears.
- Environment and Climate Change Canada and Polar Bears International documented the trio with photographs and video, including images by Dave Sandford.
- Both cubs are estimated at 10 to 11 months old and are expected to remain with the mother until about two and a half years, improving the adopted cub’s chance of survival.