Before the sharp decline in population in the late nineteenth century, the species was found south of a line from Shark Bay to the meeting of the rivers at the Murray–Darling basin and above the 28° southern latitude. The drastic contraction of the distribution range continued until the species could only be found at an island in the Nuyts Archipelago, from this population the species was reintroduced to the protected areas on the mainland and other islands. The drastic reduction in the range of this mammal is associated with the collapse of mammalian fauna in Australia (1875–1925), the causes of which are uncertain. The susceptibility of this species to a theorised epizootic event, an unidentified disease spreading from Western Australia, was estimated to be high in modelling of mammal's relative immunity. Its natural habitat is dry savanna, with perennial shrubland, especially of succulent and semi-succulent plant species including the chenopod and pig-face genera.