It has no antlers; males have long canine teeth. This small ungulate lives alone or in pairs and eats leaves and fruit.
The back is reddish-brown, the neck has white stripe markings, the legs are slender, and the tail is short.
Researchers placed cameras at 315 points in eight forest reserves on the Malay Peninsula to compare lesser mouse-deer detections with forest conditions. Detections were four times higher in forest patches than in continuous forest and nearly three times higher in peat swamp than in lowland dipterocarp forest.
Detections were also higher in forests where logging had stopped at least 30 years earlier than in unlogged forests. Surveys ran from March 2013 to April 2018. Detection increased where trees were 5–45 cm in diameter and decreased at higher elevations. Researchers recorded tree size, canopy cover, saplings and palms at sites and analyzed these with surrounding landscape conditions.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
In the Malay Peninsula study, lesser mouse-deer detections were four times higher in forest patches than in continuous forest and nearly three times higher in peat swamp than in lowland dipterocarp forest. The authors highlight both patches and continuous forest for conservation.