What is the real reason for the extinction of the dodo?

No single reason can be attributed to the extinction of the dodo. While the Dutch were hunting down the dodo for food (even if they didn’t really like its flesh), they were also cutting down ebony trees en masse for export towards Europe (its wood is very hard and is thus great to make furniture etc.) and since the island was mostly covered with ebony forest at that time, this deforestation inevitably led to the loss of habitat of the dodo (leading to another string of problems like no shelter/food, exposure to hunters/diseases). So while the number was decreasing because of hunting, they were also losing their natural habitat at the same time. Also, like mentioned above, there was also the introduction of predators at that time which were preying on the eggs of the dodo thus preventing the survival of young ones. All of these compounded factors led to the extinction of the dodo and the dodo is taken as a totem of extinction because man is the real reason behind it.

Another factor would be predators like rats which would have arrived on sailing ships.

Altering of habitats. Rats ate the dodo's eggs and since they layed eggs only once per year...