Several causes for the decline and sudden disappearance of the hoopoe starling have been proposed, all connected to the activities of humans on Réunion, who it survived alongside for two centuries. An oft-repeated suggestion is that the introduction of the common myna ("Acridotheres tristis") led to competition between these two starling species. The myna was introduced to Réunion in 1759 to combat locusts, and became a pest itself, but the hoopoe starling coexisted with the myna for nearly 100 years and they may not have shared habitat. The black rat ("Rattus rattus") arrived on Reunion in the 1670s, and the brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus") in 1735, multiplying rapidly and threatening agriculture and native species. Like the hoopoe starling, the rats inhabited tree cavities and would have preyed on eggs, juveniles, and nesting birds. During the mid-19th century the Réunion slit-eared skink ("Gongylomorphus borbonicus") became extinct due to predation by the introduced wolf snake ("Lycodon aulicum"), which may have deprived the bird of a significant food source. Hoopoe starlings may have contracted diseases from introduced birds, a factor known to have triggered declines and extinctions in endemic Hawaiian birds. According to British ecologist Anthony S. Cheke, this was the chief cause of the hoopoe starling's extinction; the species had survived for generations despite other threats.