The Constanta Dolphinarium on Wednesday reported the birth of Romania's first viable dolphin cub born in captivity.

"The first viable baby dolphin was born in our pool. It is for the first time in Romania that a viable baby dolphin is born in captivity," Director of the Constanta Natural Sciences Museum Complex Ioan Mihai Nache told a news conference on Wednesday.

He said that for now the gender of the cub is not known, as the mother is very protective and for 30 days will keep it away from strangers.

"When we had a request from Ukraine to save some animals, we didn't think about developing scientific projects, we just wanted to stand in solidarity (...). We also trusted the professional people here, at the dolphinarium," Chairman of the Constanta County Council Mihai Lupu told the news conference.

The baby dolphin was born on March 8, to the surprise of the dolphinarium's employees.

"The experiment put on paper was to save dolphins [from Ukraine]. On March 8, I received the news that in the pool, along with the dolphins I knew, there is someone small trying to swim with its mother. (...) For now, we call it the baby; the cub is now learning to swim properly, it is learning to eat, it is learning to avoid others," said Angelica Curlisca, head of the Dolphinarium Department at the Natural Sciences Museum Complex in Constanta.

She added that three female and one male dolphin have been rescued from Ukraine. The cub was born to Chen Chen, a female raised at the dolphinarium, and a male rescued from Ukraine. AGERPRES (RO - Cornelia Dumitru, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)