It is found in rainforest and in forest along the edge waterways. It lives in holes in the roots of large trees, hollow logs, fallen branches, rock crevices, termite mounds and other similar places. It does not dig its own burrows. The species is a nocturnal, and solitary forager, although it dens communally in parties of two to six (sometimes more) animals.
It has a gestation length of 100 to 110 days, with a single young born (though Haltenorth and Diller [1980] mention up to four), in two to three litters per year. This species has a longevity of 15 years.

This species is distributed from Guinea, Sierra Leone and The Gambia in West Africa eastwards in forested regions to Kenya. It has been recorded from sea level to the Cameroon Highlands. The species is also found on Bioko Island. A record from east of Lake Tanganyika (Kingdon 1974) is not shown in Swynnerton and Hayman (1951) or Kingdon 1997. It has been recorded up to 3,000 m asl.

It is known to occur in several protected areas, including Comoe National Park in Côte d'Ivoire and National Park of Upper Niger in Guinea. There has been extensive research into harvest levels (see Jori et al. 1998), as well as an investigation into the feasibility of farming these animals in Gabon (Jori et al. 1998). However, the low reproductive rates in captivity pose a problem.