There were adult, young and baby dinosaurs. Dong concluded that the remains of thousands were at the site. The dinosaurs lived by the river, and a catastrophic flood washed carcasses down to Dashanpu. Dashanpu is unique among Middle Jurassic dinosaur sites. A few fossils of similar age have been found in Argentina and Australia.
Several localities have older, smaller dinosaurs.
But Dashanpu revealed the transformations under way as the creatures surged toward giantism. In the autumn of 1980 the local government agreed to protect Dashanpu. Later Dong was given official support to build a dinosaur museum modeled on those in the U.S. state of Utah and in Alberta, Canada. Opened in 1987, it has become one of the world's top three. The fieldwork was carried out over four seasons, putting up to 50 workers in the field at once.