Yellow-bellied Weasel in most of its range is generally associated with rugged highlands (over 1,000 m). It may occur well below 1,000 m in such areas, but it seems unlikely that the species occurs at lower elevations in areas away from high altitude terrain, except in parts of China and Viet Nam. While evidently primarily an evergreen forest species, it seems likely that it is tolerant of even quite severe habitat degradation, and it appears to persist in the face of heavy hunting (Duckworth and Robichaud 2005, Lau et al. 2010). Its natural history has never been studied; it is evidently diurnal, probably mostly ground-dwelling but an at least occasional climber, and is assumed to be largely carnivorous (but see Wan 2014). On Hainan Island, China, where it is the only Mustela species, thus reducing risks of confusion, villagers report that it raids poultry regularly in villages (Bosco P.L. Chan pers. comm. 2014).

Yellow-bellied Weasel is found along parts of the Indian Himalaya through Nepal, Bhutan, North-east India and southern China east to Hong Kong, and in South-east Asia in northern and central Myanmar, northern and central Thailand, Lao PDR and Viet Nam, with one series of records in the Cardamom mountains of Cambodia (Pocock 1941, Duckworth and Robichaud 2005, Than Zaw et al. 2008, Pei et al. 2010, Ghimirey and Acharya 2012, Supparatvikorn et al. 2012, Abramov et al. 2013, Choudhury 2013, Phan et al. 2014). The southernmost record is from the Dalat Plateau, Viet Nam (Abramov et al. 2013). Historically, this species was much overlooked in South-east Asia, with no records from Thailand at all, and the few from Viet Nam all coming from the northern highlands. Its full southern extent is perhaps still not determined (Duckworth and Robichaud 2005). As of late 2014, there are no records from Bangladesh (Hasan Rahman pers comm. 2014), although it seems likely to occur in the evergreen forests of the north-east.

There is wide variation in altitudinal use over Yellow-bellied Weasel's range. In Hong Kong, it is found from close to sea-level to over 200 m (M.W.N. Lau pers. comm. 2006). In China, it has been recorded at 150 m on Hainan Island, at 1,415 m in north-western Guangxi, to 1,900 m in north-west Yunnan (Bosco P.L. Chan pers. comm. 2014) There is one record from Viet Nam at only 50 m, although most others traced by Roberton (2007) were in hills and mountains. Records from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Myanmar are all from above 770 m, most from above 1,000 m (Than Zaw et al. 2008, Supparatvikorn et al. 2012, Phan et al. 2014) and given patterns of survey effort, it is safe to conclude that it does not typically inhabit the lowlands of South-east Asia west of the Annamite Mountains. In India it occurs mostly at 1,000-4,000 m (Choudhury 2013), in Bhutan up to 3,800 m (P. Yonzon pers. comm. 2006).

In Viet Nam, this species is protected in group 2b, because it is an enemy of rats (GMA Small Carnivore Workshop 2006). It is listed as Near Threatened on the China Red List (Wang and Xie 2004). It is listed by India on CITES Appendix III. It has been found in relatively many protected areas across its range. No specific conservation action or research is obviously needed to protect this species. However, a taxonomic reassessment is warranted in case the species as currently defined includes a restricted-range cryptic species.