The species is highly variable, occurring in dry grasslands, upland savannas, moist savannas, Cerrado woodland, and gallery forests. Also occurs in agricultural areas and near roadsides and railway right-of-ways. In the Bolivian Yungas it occurs in disturbed areas. They are grazers and eat grasses. Breeding occurs year round, it can have up to five litters per year. Male home ranges are measured to be from 165 to 1,387 m², and female ranges are also variable like the male's, but much smaller; the male's home range overlap with multiple female home ranges but not often with other male's (Lacher 2016).

This species occurs in Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Bolivia, north Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay (Dunnum 2015). There are no records from French Guiana (Voss et al., 2001). It is found from 400 to around 3,000 m asl (Alberico et al. 2000, J. Vargas pers. comm.).

It is present in a number of protected areas throughout its range.