It is native to the Mount Nimba area which rests along the border of Liberia, Guinea, and Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa.

[3] Its pelage is long, hiding its ears and eyes, and almost always universally colored (usually brown, but black and gray otter shrews have been spotted).

[4] The Nimba otter shrew is classified as a member of Potamogalidae, which is related to afrotherian tenrecs, based on morphological structures.

[5] Unfortunately, due to heavy mining operations for iron ore in the Mount Nimba area, the fossil record is all but destroyed.

[1] The species is confined to an area of less than 5,000 km² on Mount Nimba, which is currently fragmented due to mining and wetland rice agriculture.