It inhabits humid terra firme and gallery forest, often being seen in open habitats such as old plantations and secondary growth (Borges 1999), but preferring thickets along rivers or forest borders. Surveys have indicated higher relative frequencies in secondary forest than in primary forest (Borges 1999; Parry et al. 2007), although it appears limited to primary forest in French Guiana. The species is generally restricted to lowlands and foothills up to 1,700 m. It feeds predominantly on fruits, most importantly of the genera Eugenia and Guarea, but will also take leaves, buds, shoots, invertebrates, flowers and mushrooms. Breeding times are variable, with nests recorded in January to April in Suriname (Haverschmidt and Mees 1994), but young have been recorded in March and September in French Guiana, and a breeding-condition female in January in Colombia. The nest is a small platform made of sticks, built in trees c.5 m above the ground (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Crax alector is found in north-central South America. Subspecies erythrognatha occurs to the west, in eastern Colombia along the east Andes and Macarena Mountains, and southern Venezuela. The nominate subspecies alector is found in the east, from Cerro de la Neblina, east Venezuela, eastwards through Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana, and south to north Brazil, where it occurs in Amazonas, Roraima, Pará and Amapá (del Hoyo et al. 1994; WikiAves 2019).

Conservation Actions Underway
It occurs in protected areas, including the Central Suriname Nature Reserve.

Conservation Actions Proposed
Study the impact of hunting on the species's population trends. Monitor hunting levels. Continue to monitor rates of deforestation across the species's range.
Expand the protected area network to effectively protect IBAs. Effectively resource and manage existing and new protected areas. Conservation on private lands, through expanding market pressures for sound land management and preventing forest clearance on lands unsuitable for agriculture, is also essential (Soares-Filho et al. 2006). Maintain connectivity between areas of unhunted habitat (Denis et al. 2016).