I will share a truly wonderful story depicting the helpfulness of bears and most will think this is a really special bear – a totally unique bear...   

Please allow me to 'set the record straight'.

This is no strange and unique behaviour, if grasping at straws, this may be somewhat unusual mature bear behaviour but only because ignorance still prevails. There is a lot about bear behaviour many of us do not know about. Like one of these wonderful behaviours are exposed [for the good of bears) right here: 

Bears know how to read human body language. 

It has been documented about little children lost in the freezing woods 1-3 days, and been found a bit frostbitten and that, but by no means suffering from the results of the expected ailments and injuries often associated with severe exposure. These children were kept relatively safe and warm.

When these children were asked how they survived, for days, in these freezing temperatures, and one was also lost in the woods in winter and pouring rain? Situations that could prove fatal to experienced adult hikers, but they were found unharmed. 

The answer was almost always the same comforting one. 'A bear kept me warm and watched [over] me. The bear chased all the bad things away from me.'

We would likely choose to think that is only a fairytale-type of story as kids often deal with fear by making up stories and some of them are really fantastical!

Although no definitive proof of the children's initial 'rescue' is available there is enough evidence suggesting the plausibility of this unbelievable, to most of us, explanation. A black bear expert who has been studying bears – mainly black bears, for some time was also a literal subject of his research and experienced some of this protective and nurturing behaviour displayed by female black bears.

He noted that all bears know how to read human body language. By studying your body language and facial expressions they can figure out who is, or not, threatening towards them. To the bears, these children posed no threat and there is another factor we did not fully consider – until now... Female bears are far more nurturing than the male bears so much so that they will notice the vulnerability of a small child and it awakes the 'mama-bear instinct'.

Mother bears are extremely protective of their cubs, but in suitable situations also keep a protective eye over another mother bear's cubs. 

This expert found himself in a situation where he experienced their altruistic behaviour in bears (general) – several female bears (not sure of species but likely black bears) surrounded and protected him by chasing away advancing aggressive males. This kind of behaviour allows for the possibility of "saving" the kids. This accredited bear expert says a female bear/s was likely responsible and quite possibly lingered close to the child out of initial curiosity, offering the frightened children a strong sense of company, safety and comfort.
 

We will maybe never really know the full story, especially where one child said the bear took him to a cave and slept right alongside him and thereby kept him warm. Something kept all of them out of the cold/rain or both and shielded them from harm. What really happened as they did not allow the expert to touch them or get too close but perhaps, they let their guard down for the obvious vulnerability of the nonthreatening lost child in the woods. Maybe, who knows???