Where it inhabits maquis shrubland in the Iberian Peninsula, it prefers areas close to rivers with dense vegetation.

[3] It has been recorded in Portugal from north of the Douro River to the south, and in Spain from the central plateau, Andalucía to the Strait of Gibraltar.

[6][7] In North Africa, it occurs along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlas Mountains from Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia into Libya, and from northern Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula.

[17] In Guinea's National Park of Upper Niger, the occurrence of the Egyptian mongoose was first documented during surveys in spring 1997.

These samples contained remains of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), sand lizards (Psammodromus), Iberian spadefoot toad (Pelobates cultripes), greater white-toothed shrew (Crocidura russula), three-toed skink (Chalcides chalcides), dabbling ducks (Anas), western cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis), wild boar (Sus scrofa) meat, Algerian mouse (Mus spretus) and rat species (Rattus).

[27] Research in southeastern Nigeria revealed that it also feeds on giant pouched rats (Cricetomys), Temminck's mouse (Mus musculoides), Tullberg's soft-furred mouse (Praomys tulbergi), Nigerian shrew (Crocidura nigeriae), Hallowell's toad (Amietophrynus maculatus), African brown water snake (Afronatrix anoscopus), and Mabuya skinks.

[33] In 1758, Carl Linnaeus described an Egyptian mongoose from the area of the Nile River in Egypt in his work Systema Naturae and gave it the scientific name Viverra ichneumon.

The following zoological specimen were described between the late 18th century and the early 1930s as subspecies:[35] In 1811, Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger subsumed the ichneumon to the genus Herpestes.

[46] A survey of poaching methods in Israel carried out in autumn 2000 revealed that the Egyptian mongoose is affected by snaring in agricultural areas.

[47] Numerous dried heads of Egyptian mongooses were found in 2007 at the Dantokpa Market in southern Benin, suggesting that it is used as fetish in animal rituals.

[48] The Egyptian mongoose is listed on Appendix III of the Berne Convention, and Annex V of the European Union Habitats and Species Directive.

[49] At the cemetery of Beni Hasan, an Egyptian mongoose on a leash is depicted in the tomb of Baqet I dating to the Eleventh Dynasty of Egypt.

[51] The Sherlock Holmes canon also features an ichneumon the short story The Adventure of the Crooked Man, though due to Watson's description of its appearance and its owner's history in India it is likely to actually be an Indian grey mongoose.