PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, August 5 (RIA Novosti) - A female bear has adopted an orphaned bear cub in Russia's Far East despite its natural instinct to aggressively chase away other bear cubs, a wildlife reserve spokesman said on Wednesday.
"Such a case is the rarest exception from the law of the wild in a bear's life. Usually an orphaned bear cub does not have any chance of survival. They can be killed by adult bears, female bears and other bear cubs," the spokesman for the Kronotsky National Nature Reserve in southern Kamchatka told RIA Novosti.
He said the young bear was born last winter and appeared in the female bear's brood around two months ago.
"He was weak, could barely walk, and cried incessantly when female bear was feeding her own cubs, but the family did not let it come closer," the spokesman said.
According to specialists, the brood adopted the cub when he "acquired the brood's smell and bear's milk smell" while playing with the other cubs.
"This case is absolutely unique," the spokesman said, adding that the female bear pays even more attention to the adopted cub than her own cubs.
Reserve employees said that cases of cannibalism were frequent among bears, and the victims were not just cubs but also female bears, which is why there are orphaned cubs of varying ages.
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