An inhabitant of Guinea woodland (Van Rompaey and Sillero-Zubiri 2013). In Gambia, this species is associated with denser coastal woodland (Grubb et al. 1998) and dry parts of dense, partly swampy riverine forest (T. Wacher in Van Rompaey and Sillero-Zubiri 2013). Predominantly feeds on invertebrates. Like the much better-studied Banded Mongoose (M. mungo), it is diurnal and lives in bands of 3–10 individuals, although groups of over 30 (Bourlière et al. 1974) and even 40 individuals has been reported (Sillero-Zubiri and Bassignani 2001).

Endemic to West Africa, occurring from Gambia and Senegal west and south through Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria (Van Rompaey and Sillero-Zubiri 2013). The species is also present in Benin (Djagoun and Gaubert 2009), but there are no records from Liberia, southern Mali and southern Burkina Faso. A record from Cameroon (Jeannin 1936) likely results from confusion with Banded Mongoose (M. mungo) (Van Rompaey and Sillero-Zubiri 2013). The Niger R. presumably forms the eastern limit.

This species is present in several protected areas, such as Niokola-Koba N. P. (Senegal; Sillero-Zubiri and Marino 1997), National Park of Upper Niger (Guinea; Ziegler et al. 2002), Mount Nimba Biosphere Reserve (Guinea; Colyn et al. 2000), Comoé N. P. (Côte d'Ivoire; Fischer et al. 2002) and Mole N. P. (Ghana; Burton et al. 2011).