By studying the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Idaho, and Wyoming, Leopold helped recreate the paleoenvironment of the Paleogene and Neogene periods.
The Los Colorados Formation was interpreted as an ancient floodplain and it home to several types of early sauropodomorph dinosaurs (including Riojasaurus, Coloradisaurus, Coloradia, Strenusaurus and Lessemsaurus), all of which shared the same paleoenvironment with Zupaysaurus.