Lesser Grison frequently occurs near water (Pine et al. 1979, Mares et al. 1989), and may be also abundant in open habitats (Mares et al. 1989), in the extremes of the arid Chaco, in environments with extensive vegetation cover in conjunction with open water, deciduous and evergreen forests, savananas and mountainous regions up to 4,200 m (Yensen and Tarifa 2003). The species also occurs in the agricultural areas of the pampas (Parera 2002). The diet consists primarily of small and medium-sized vertebrates. Several studies have addressed the predominance in Lesser Grison diet of introduced lagomorphs (i.e., European Hare Lepus europaeus and European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus) and native rodents (Diuk-Wasser and Cassini 1998, Delibes et al. 2003, Zapata et al. 2005), but birds, frogs, lizards snakes and eggs are also consumed (Mann 1945, Jimenez 1996, Quintana et al. 2000).

Galictis cuja occurs in south-eastern Peru, western and southern Bolivia, central Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, and east and north-eastern Brazil.

The conservation status of Galictis cuja varies by country (Yensen and Tarifa 2003).