It is restricted to undisturbed humid evergreen forest (also seasonally dry forest in some areas) and mangroves although there are reports that it tolerates limited disturbance (Radachowsky et al. 2004). The species has been seen to utilise secondary forest in areas absent of hunting (Whitworth et al. 2018). Subspecies griscomi displays a particular preference for the tropical semi-deciduous forest of Cozumel Island however (Martínez-Morales 1999). It is primarily a lowland species but has been recorded at altitudes of up to 1,900 m in Panama and on the northern slope of Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala (E. H. Baur in litt. 2012). The species has been observed singly, in pairs and in small groups and is typically frugivorous, although it has been noted to infrequently glean foliage and litter for invertebrates and small vertebrates (Vannini and Rockstroh 1997).  Nests are typically small and within 5 m of the ground; clutches normally comprise two eggs (Vannini and Rockstroh 1997).

Crax rubra has a wide but now highly fragmented distribution from San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Querétaro, Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco, Chiapas and the Yucatán peninsula, Mexico (Howell and Webb 1995, F. González-García in litt. 1998, M. Martínez-Morales in litt. 1998), south through Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama to west Colombia (Pacific lowlands east to the Gulf of Urabá and the upper Sinú valley) and, very rarely, west Ecuador (Sibley and Monroe 1990, R. S. Ridgely in litt. 1998). The distinctive race griscomi is restricted to Cozumel Island off Mexico, where an estimated 300 individuals remain (Martínez-Morales 1996) and it is thought to have declined (Caballero and Martínez-Morales 2006). It has undergone a considerable (and continuing) decline, becoming uncommon to rare or locally extinct throughout much of its range. In Ecuador there are perhaps fewer than 100 individuals occurring in three protected areas (J. Freile in litt. 2009), with very few recent reports of the species (J. Freile in litt. 2012). Healthy populations occurred in the Chimalapas region of Oaxaca, but the effects of extensive fires in 1998 on the species are largely unknown (A. G. Navarro in litt. 1998). Recent assessments have however identified chicks and juveniles in the region, suggesting a reproductive population in the region (Pérez-Irineo and Santos-Moreno 2017). However, it has recovered or remains relatively common in areas with legal protection or where it is not hunted, and populations are still stable in isolated and well protected parts of Guatemala and Nicaragua (del Hoyo 1994).

Conservation Actions Underway
CITES III in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras and Colombia (del Hoyo 1994). It occurs in a number of protected areas including Santa Rosa, Rincón de la Vieja and Corcovado National Parks in Costa Rica (del Hoyo 1994). A captive breeding and reintroduction project is taking place in secondary forest on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica with 94 birds released between 2000-2004 (Zepeda 2006).

Conservation Actions Proposed
Survey populations and ascertain trends at known sites. Research land-use effects on the species and its habitat. Effectively protect national parks where the species occurs. Enforce hunting restrictions (and ban hunting in countries where it is currently permitted), and introduce educational campaigns to reduce hunting pressure.