The species lives in dense rainforest in southeastern Madagascar, and can be found in Ranomafana and Andringitra National Parks.

Due to recent taxonomic changes and a lack of clarity about its population size and range, it was listed as "data deficient" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2008.

Although Forsyth Major did not explicitly state the origins of either the scientific name or the vernacular name, he did note that it had smaller molar teeth relative to other sportive lemurs.

Tattersall based his decision on what he considered to be a lack of detailed anatomical studies and field surveys, while also factoring in the difficulty in observing the animals in the wild, the presence of only subtle variations among museum specimens, and his own unwillingness to consider differences in karyotypes as grounds for defining distinct species.

A total of 18 chromosomal rearrangements distinguished the two species, indicating that if the two shared the same range, hybrids would be either completely sterile or suffer greatly reduced fertility.

[15] In September 2006, Edward E. Louis Jr. et al. announced the discovery of 11 new species of sportive lemur based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data.

[22] The PAST data placed it in section B, while the D-loop data placed it in section C.[23] The relationship between the small-toothed sportive lemur, an eastern Malagasy species, and a group of species from the west coast of Madagascar suggests that the ancestral population of the small-toothed sportive lemur dispersed to its current range from western Madagascar using river corridors.

[24] The species is nearly identical in coloration to the weasel sportive lemur and it is almost impossible to separate the two in the field, except on the basis of geography.

Its pelage (fur) is thick and reddish-brown, while its underside and neck are pale gray-brown, and sometimes have a yellowish or yellowish-gray hue.

All sportive lemurs have long legs compared to their arms and trunk and the face is covered with short hairs.

[25] According to a review by Henry Ogg Forbes in 1894, the species differs from other sportive lemurs—as its name suggests—by having significantly smaller molar teeth.

Forbes also claimed that compared with the weasel sportive lemur, its bony palate is longer and it has a depression at the base of the nasal (nose) region.

[6] Like other sportive lemurs, the cecum (beginning of the large intestine) is enlarged, presumably to handle its leaf-rich diet, which is more characteristic of larger primates.

Woolly lemur population density (and thus competition for food) appeared to affect the species distribution more than the availability of sleep sites.

[1] Like many species of lemur, it is threatened with habitat loss from slash and burn agriculture and by increasing hunting pressure.