Cercopithecus petaurista occurs in primary and secondary forests, gallery forest, swamp forest, mangrove forest, forest-savanna mosaic landscapes, and regenerating areas such as farm bush. This species is often associated with liana tangles and climbers that surround large tree trunks (Oates 2011). The highest altitude that this species inhabits appears to be ≥ 1,000 m asl in the mature rainforest on Mt. Bintumani in the Loma Mountains, Sierra Leone (T.S. Jones unpublished data cited in Grubb et al. 1998; A. Barrie pers. comm. 2016). Cercopithecus petaurista lives in 7-16 member one-male groups in Täi National Park, Côte d’Ivoire (Galat and Galat-Luong 1985, Buzzard 2006); seasonal male influxes sometimes occur that temporarily create multi-male groups. In Togo, average group size is 6.8 (range = 2-10, N=5); however, in Danyi Yikpa and Missahohe forest reserves in Togo, the size of two observed groups was quite large (20 and 30 individuals) (Segniagbeto et al. 2017). In Täi National Park quadrupedal walking (about 60%) dominates the locomotor repertoire of this species, followed by climbing, leaping and running, and it uses the middle to low strata of the forest canopy, lower than sympatric Cercopithecus diana and higher than Cercopithecus campbelli; the average canopy height used was 13.3 m (McGraw 2000). In the same forest, Galat and Galat-Luong (1985) found that the majority of the species’ diet came from fruits (77.2%), with few leaves (5.5%) and insects (7.7%); Buzzard (2006), however, found that this species was less frugivorous (34.4%) and more folivorous (40%) than the sympatric Cercopithecus campbelli and Cercopithecus diana. This species is preyed upon by the Western chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus), leopard (Panthera pardus) and crowned-hawk eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus).

It is suspected that there is a continuing decline in habitat area, extent, and quality. The continued conversion of the forests inhabited by this species into agricultural land and especially plantations of cash crops have been occurring. Between 1975 and 2013 (38 years), Côte d’Ivoire lost 60 % (22,000 km²) of its forest while Ghana lost 24 % (4,000 km²) due mainly to conversion into cocoa, oil palm and rubber plantations (CILSS 2016). One good example is Marahoué National Park in Côte d’Ivoire that experienced almost total conversion of the forest into plantations. This park experienced a 93% reduction in forest cover between 2002 and 2008 (Campbell et al. 2008), and this has led to the extirpation of all the anthropoid primate species, including C. petaurista. However, the overall rate of population decline is probably less than 30%.

Two subspecies of Cercopithecus petaurista are recognized. Cercopithecus p. petaurista is found in the moist forest zone east of the Cavally River in Côte d'Ivoire to the vicinity of the village of Souroukou and in Fazao-Malfakassa National Park, Danyi Yikpa and Missahohe forest reserves along the Kamassi River in western Togo. C. p. buettikoferi is found to the west of the Cavally River in Côte d’Ivoire to Guinea-Bissau’s Bijagos archipelago.

This species is listed on Appendix II of CITES and on Class B of the African Convention on the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. It is a widespread species that is present in several protected areas, including Taï National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), Comoé National Park (Côte d'Ivoire), Banco NP (Côte d'Ivoire), Azagny NP (Côte d'Ivoire), Ile Ehotilé NP (Côte d'Ivoire), Mont Sangbé NP (Côte d'Ivoire), Bossématié Forest Reserve (Côte d'Ivoire), Dassioko FR (Côte d'Ivoire), Port Gauthier FR (Côte d'Ivoire), Yaya FR (Côte d'Ivoire), Mabi FR (Côte d'Ivoire) Digya National Park (Ghana), Kakum National Park (Ghana), Cape Three Points Forest Reserve (Ghana) and Fazao-Malfakassa National Park (Togo) (Gatti 2010, Wiafe and Amoah 2012, Segniagbeto et al. 2017). Strict enforcement of anti-poaching and snaring law in protected areas is needed in all of the species habitat countries. Protection could also be improved by the maintenance of more permanent research stations. In all range countries, the precise distribution range of this species is still unknown. For this reason, we recommend conducting extensive foot and camera-trap surveys in key protected areas. We also recommend more widespread studies of bushmeat in markets located in proximity of protected areas.