FARGO, N.D. – Dakota the duckbilled dinosaur is coming home.

The 65-million-year-old fossilized hadrosaur found in North Dakota’s Badlands a decade ago has been studied by paleontologists, had its innards scanned by NASA and starred in a National Geographic television documentary.

The dinosaur, expected to arrive Friday in a big truck, will be ready for display in the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck in early June.

The body portion weighs 8,000 pounds, and another portion weighs 1,500 pounds, including the tail. A third part, including a leg, is much smaller.

Unlike most collections of bones found in museums, this hadrosaur came complete with fossilized skin, ligaments, tendons and possibly some internal organs, according to scientists.

“To have something that was found here in North Dakota come back here to the Heritage Center is so great to have happen,” said Merl Paaverud, the center’s director. “It’ll be wonderful for our kids.”

Steer bolts out open gate, evades slaughterhouse

CINCINNATI – Searchers on the ground and in a sheriff’s department helicopter Monday were looking for an Angus steer that postponed its date with a slaughterhouse by bolting out an open gate.

The more than 1,000-pound animal escaped from a slaughterhouse holding pen Monday morning and ran into the woods of suburban Cincinnati, according to Colerain Township police and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

The steer was last seen heading into woods several blocks north of Stehlin’s Meat Market and Interstate 275, said Dick Stehlin, co-owner of the meatpacking business. He said the bovine should be approached with caution.

“It’s not, say, a mean animal or anything like that, it’s just sort of in a panic stage,” Stehlin said. “It’s just out running, not even knowing where it’s heading.”

It’s not the first time a steer has been on the loose in the Cincinnati area. In September 2006, a steer named Little Red ran from a fair and eluded capture for three days.