Even in death, a question persisted: What exactly was it? For centuries, no one was sure what type of bird the dodo was.

For years, TikTok users have shared dozens of videos claiming that the U.S. "got caught hiding the last dodo bird." Some of these videos made the specific claim that a man discovered the U.S.

So, how did the bird’s population decline so quickly? Dodo birds are native to the tropical island of Mauritius. It was a ...