DALLAS — With the care of an archeologist on excavation, and the pride of an expectant father, Luis Sigler digs up eggs incubating for 89 days exactly.

"Like I can't sleep the day before, I have dreams with crocodiles hatching. Yeah, it's really exciting," said Sigler, a crocodile biologist.

It is the moment he's been waiting for: Four wet, wiggly, baby crocodiles.

Orinoco crocodiles were nearly hunted to extinction for their beautiful black spotted hide. The hatching is so rare, so uncertain, that this was the first time it had been videotaped and shown to the general public.

The Dallas World Aquarium has the only breeding pair of adult Orinoco crocs in North America. And there is good reason their vulnerable offspring aren't raised with mama and papa.

"And especially the pirhannas can be quite dangerous to those hatchlings when they first go into the water. Yea, we try to protect these endangered crocodiles as best we can," said Paula Branshaw, marine biologist.

Temperature control of the eggs has assured they are all female, the better to perpetuate the species.

The 57 older sisters in the tanks above the hatching ground will be returned to the Orinoco River in Venezuela later this year.

And like all proud papas, Luis Sigler has aspirations for these little girls. "If they can be released into the wild, that would be my life dream,” said Sigler.

E-mail jstjames@wfaa.com