The maned rat is found in dry forests of southern Sudan, in Ethiopia, and in isolated mountain woodlands of Tanzania. In Ethiopia it lives in a variety of habitats from sea level to 3,300 metres (10,800 feet). The natural history of this unique rodent has not been thoroughly studied. It is nocturnal and a good climber, but it moves slowly. During the day it dens among rocks, in holes of dead trees, among tree roots, and in sides of ravines. Leaves, fruits, and tender shoots constitute its diet in the wild, but root vegetables, cereals, meat, and insects have been accepted in captivity. The maned rat sits on its haunches when eating and manipulates food with its front feet. Apparently one young per litter is usual.

The maned rat is the sole living representative of the subfamily Lophiomyinae in the mouse family ( Muridae) within the order Rodentia (rodent). Fragments of a cranium found in Israel suggest that its present geographic distribution is part of a more extensive former range, and it may still exist on the Arabian Peninsula. Past diversity of the genus was greater as well, as indicated by fossil fragments from Morocco representing two additional species from the Pliocene Epoch (5.3 million to 1.8 million years ago). A possible ancestor of the maned rat (Protolophiomys ibericus) was discovered in six-million- to seven-million-year-old deposits of southern Spain. Although most of these fossils are cranial fragments, they are easily recognized as relatives of the maned rat by a granulated, bony caplike growth over the top of the entire skull—a structure unique to members of the subfamily Lophiomyinae.