It is an arboreal and nocturnal species, found in primary, secondary, and disturbed tropical moist forest. It has additionally been recorded in mangrove forest. Females are believed to rear a single young (Winter and Leung 1995).

This widespread species is found through much of the southern Moluccan Islands (Indonesia), including Buru, Seram, Banda, and Ambon (possibly introduced to these islands); it is present on the islands of Misool and Yapen, the Kai Islands and the Aru Islands (all Indonesia); it is distributed over much of the island of New Guinea (Indonesia and Papua New Guinea); and is present on the Cape York Peninsula, north of Coen, in Australia. It has been introduced to the islands of Mussau and New Ireland (Papua New Guinea), and to Salayer Island, south of Sulawesi, Indonesia (George 1987). It has an altitudinal range of sea level to 1,400 m asl.

This species is listed on Appendix II of CITES. It is present in a number of protected areas. Further studies into the taxonomy of this species are needed.