Little is known of Otter Civet habitat and ecology. This species was believed to be confined largely to peat swamp forests, but there are now also records from lowland dipterocarp forest (Sebastian 2005, Cheyne et al. in prep.). It seems to be most strongly associated with lowland primary forest, but it has been recorded in secondary forest, bamboo, and logged forest (Veron et al. 2006, Wilting et al. 2010, A.J. Hearn and J. Ross pers. comm. 2014); its long-term persistence in these habitats is unknown (Veron et al. 2006). It has also been recorded in freshwater swamp forest and in limestone forest amid acacia plantation in Bukit Sarang Conservation Area, Sarawak (Belden et al. 2007). It has been recorded at 1,370 m a.s.l. in Bario, Sarawak, but the majority of records are from lowland forest (Veron et al. 2006, Cheyne et al. in prep.). Otter Civet is semi-aquatic (Veron et al. 2006) and is assumed to forage in water for fish, crabs, molluscs, small mammals, and birds (Lekagul and McNeely 1977). It is predominantly nocturnal (Sebastian 2005, Ross et al. in prep. a).

Otter Civet has a Sundaic distribution. It is found in Malaysia (peninsular and Borneo), Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo), Brunei Darussalam and Thailand. Assuming the sight-record at Kaeng Krachan in the north of peninsula Thailand is valid (Chutipong et al. 2014), the species is likely also to occur in Peninsular Myanmar, although there are no records from Myanmar to date. With no specific search for the species and very little general survey in the relevant parts of the country, this lack of records does not strongly suggest the species’ absence (Than Zaw et al. 2008, Than Zaw pers. comm. 2014). There is a very old record labelled as from Singapore (Meiri 2005) but there is no evidence that this was not a traded specimen, and no other indication that the species has ever occurred in the country (Chua et al. 2012). A 1920s record from northern Viet Nam was assumed by Veron et al. (2006) to have an erroneous provenance. Three subsequent reports from Yunnan province, China, and one from non-Sundaic Thailand, which lent an appearance of mutual corroboration to the Viet Nam locality, are based only on second-hand reports and have not been verified with either specimens or photographs (Schreiber et al. 1989, Veron et al. 2006, Chutipong et al. 2013). Therefore, the species is taken here not to occur outside Sundaic Southeast Asia.

Recent records of Otter Civet from Borneo are from Sarawak (e.g., Belden et al. 2007), Sabah (Wilting et al. 2010, A.J. Hearn and J. Ross pers. comm. 2014) and Central Kalimantan (Cheyne et al. 2010). There are also recent records from east-central Sumatra (ZSL Indonesia Programme pers. comm. 2014). As of late 2014, only two recent records were traced from the Thai-Malay peninsula, both from the Endau-Rompin Landscape, Johor, Malaysia: once each in 2012 and 2013 (M. Gumal pers. comm. 2014).

Otter Civet has been recorded at 1,370 m a.s.l. in Bario, Sarawak, but the majority of records are from lowland forest, down to sea-level (Veron et al. 2006, Cheyne et al. in prep.).

Otter Civet is listed in Appendix II of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora, and as ‘threatened’ in the IUCN Action Plan for the Conservation of Mustelids and Viverrids (Schreiber et al. 1989). Its conservation requires protection of forest and riverine habitat, and policing against illegal harvesting of timber and hunting (Veron et al. 2006). Conservation priorities would be better refined by clarification of its tolerance to degraded, fragmented, secondary and converted habitats, including riverine areas in plantations and other areas that maintain some natural vegetation, and its occurrence in the various types of wetland habitat. The paucity of recent records in the Thai-Malay peninsular, despite an increase in the use of camera-traps, is of great concern, and warrants specific search for the species.

This species has been detected in a fair number of protected areas throughout its range, including Bukit Sarang Conservation Area, Sarawak (Belden et al. 2007), Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand, in 1998 (Anon. 1998), Way Kambas National Park, Sumatra (Veron et al. 2006), Sembilang National Park, Sumatra (ZSL Indonesia Programme pers. comm. 2014), Danau Sentarum National Park, West Kalimantan (Jeanes and Meijaard 2000), Danum Valley Conservation Area and Tabin Wildlife Reserve, Sabah (A.J. Hearn and J. Ross pers. comm. 2014) and Sabangau National Park, Central Kalimantan (Cheyne et al. 2010)