The Zebra Duiker prefers undisturbed primary lowland forest, but also occurs in low mountain and hill forests and sometimes in secondary growth and swidden cultivation (Newing 2001, Wilson 2001). Wilson (2001) considered this the least adaptable of all West African duiker species to deforestation and therefore the least likely to survive hunting pressure and habitat degradation.

Endemic to the Upper Guinea Forest. The Zebra Duiker occurs from the Moa River in eastern Sierra Leone to the Nioniourou River in south-western Côte d’Ivoire. In Sierra Leone it probably occurred quite widely in undisturbed forest but retreated as these were cut down, by the 1980s it was rare and localized, known only in Gola Forest and other sites on the eastern border and possibly in Western Area Forest reserve (Grubb et al. 1998, East 1999, Wilson 2001). It is still present in Gola Rainforest NP (Ganas and Lindsell 2010). In Liberia it was also formerly widespread and recorded at several localities, it is still present in Sapo NP and probably in other national forests such as Grebo, Senkwehn and Krahn-Bassa. In Côte d’Ivoire its stronghold is Taï NP and it also occurs in Haute-Dodo, Rapide, Grah, Cavally-Gouin, Scio and Niegré classified forests in the south-west (Hoppe-Dominik 2013). In south-eastern Guinea they occur in the Ziama Biosphere Reseve and Diécké Forest Reserve (Bützler 1994, East 1999, Brugière 2012).

The Zebra Duiker is now confined to the remaining areas of primary forest within its former range, with its main strongholds being the Gola Forests in Sierra Leone and Liberia, Sapo National Park and other protected forests of south-eastern Liberia, and Taï National Park and the adjoining Haut Dodo-Rapide Grah-Hana Forest Reserves, and Cavally-Gouin, Scio and Niegre Forest Reserves in Côte d’Ivoire (East 1999, Hoppe-Dominik 2013). Its long-term survival is dependent on the protection of its habitat and control of poaching in these areas.

Listed on CITES Appendix II.