In a wildlife reserve in Russia's Far East, a female bear has spurned natural instincts and adopted an orphaned cub.

A mother bear caring for a cub that's not her own is rare. Most orphans don't stand a chance at survival, as they are usually killed by adult bears, female bears or even other bear cubs, a spokesman for the Kronotsky National Nature Reserve told the news service RIA Novosti.

The young bear was born last winter at the reserve in southern Kamchatka, and the mother bear brought it into her brood about two months ago.

The cub was likely orphaned because of cannibalism, which reserve employees said was frequent among bears.

The spokesman said that at first, the cub was very weak and could hardly walk, crying out whenever the female bear was feeding her own cubs. Specialists said the brood only adopted the cub after he took on the same smell as the brood and the bear's milk smell, most likely from playing with the other cubs.

Not only is this bear adoption situation very unique, reserve employees find that the female bear now pays more attention to the adopted cub than her own.