People look at dinosaur fossils at Zigong Dinosaur Museum. File photo: CFP

A sauropod dinosaur fossil was found by a local resident while he was taking a walk near his home in Zigong — a city well-known as the "home of dinosaurs" — in Southwest China's Sichuan Province this week; and the excavation efforts have been carried out in an orderly manner by the Zigong Dinosaur Museum, Hongxing News reported on Wednesday.

A total of 161 dinosaur fossils have been found in more than 4,000 square kilometers of Zigong, which is rare based on other places in the world, Jiang Shan, a deputy director from the research department of Zigong Dinosaur Museum, was quoted as saying in the report.

Li Fei lives in Dashanpu, about one kilometer from Zigong Dinosaur Museum. At about 2 pm on Monday, Li and his family went out for a walk at a construction site near their home, and he found a possible dinosaur fossil and reported to the local authorities, said the report.

Based on the fossil's features, it was a 20-meter-long sauropod dinosaur that lived 160 million years ago, Jiang said.

Museum staff will clean the surrounding rocks using electric picks, and then use chisels and other tools to clean up and remove the surrounding rocks. When the fossil is excavated, a protective shell made of plaster will be used to protect it before transporting back to the museum, said the report.