All records of Bornean Ferret Badger seem to come from within evergreen hill and montane forest or adjacent scrubland. J.A. Eaton (pers. comm. 2014) saw one along a main road through shrubby secondary regrowth between two villages, but this was only a couple of hundred metres from tall forest. In contrast to the related Javan Ferret Badger M. orientalis, there seem to be no records from agricultural landscapes. Very little is known about Bornean Ferret Badger diet, but Payne et al. (1985) noted earthworms and small vertebrates. Dinets (2003) observed a Bornean Ferret Badger at a roadside rubbish dump in Kinabalu Park. Whereas Javan Ferret Badger has been observed to feed at picnic sites along the tourist trails of Gunung Gede Pangrango National Park, Java (Duckworth et al. 2008), Bornean Ferret Badger has so far not been observed along the picnic sites at the hiking trails of Mount Kinabalu (F.Y.Y. Tuh and M. Lakim pers. comm. to Wong et al. 2011). This species is believed to be nocturnal (corroborated by the few camera-trapping records; A.J. Hearn and J. Ross pers. comm. 2014) and ground-dwelling and fossorial (Payne et al. 1985).

The only confirmed records of Bornean Ferret Badger are from Kinabalu and Crocker Range Parks, and the adjacent districts of Penampang, Tambunan and Tuaran in Sabah, Malaysia (Wong et al. 2011, Wilting et al. in prep.). In the latter three districts, 57 specimens were collected within a few years in the late 1960s to early 1970s (Wong et al. 2011). Dinets (2003) reported a sighting at 1,950 m asl at Kinabalu Park. Other recent records come from Crocker Range Park, where Wong et al. (2011) captured one individual at Gunung Alab and A.J. Hearn and J. Ross (pers. comm. 2014) camera-trapped it at three sites in the southern part of the park. All records of Bornean Ferret Badger are from uplands and highlands, between 500 m asl and over 3,000 m asl (Borneo Carnivore Symposium database). The field sighting by Boonratana (2010) from a tributary of the Kinabatangan River, Sabah, is here considered to have been in error: the lower Kinabatangan is more than 200 km east of the other records, is in the extreme lowlands and has received high subsequent observer effort without the species otherwise being found there (Wilting et al. in prep.). Wozencraft (2005) stated that the species occurs in “Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak)” but this source contains multiple known distribution errors and this is assumed to be another of them. For Sarawak, there is only sub-fossil evidence from the Niah caves (Harrison 1996), and there are apparently no records from Indonesia.

This species is currently listed on the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 as Melogale personata not as Melogale everetti; this listing under an obsolete name could complicate enforcement of its protected status. This species is not listed on CITES, and indeed there is neither evidence nor likelihood, at present, of threat from international trade. This species is only confirmed from Mount Kinabalu and Crocker Range Parks and adjacent districts, but even within this small range occurrence records are rare and scattered. Additional surveys within this range are warranted, to clarify its range, population status and, most importantly determine the threats it faces to allow effective conservation actions to be developed. Surveys in highland forests in north-eastern Sarawak and North Kalimantan are also needed, to look for additional populations.