I’d never heard of the the “von Economo neuron”.

“Medical experts were stunned when they carried out research on 'super-agers', who despite having many symptoms associated with dementia, seemed not to be affected by the condition.

In spite of the fact many of the super-agers had unhealthy habits including smoking and drinking, researchers found what they had in common was a positive attitude in life and an unusually high proportion of the rare brain called called the von Economo neuron.
…
Her research found that 71 per cent of super-agers smoked and 83 per cent drank alcohol regularly. However Rogalski estimated that less than five per cent of the population are super-agers. 
The von Economo neurons which were present in super-agers are only found in the brains of large mammals and are believed to offer highspeed connections between different regions within the brain. They are known to develop in the late stages of pregnancy and early childhood and could be down to luck…”

www.dailymail.co.uk/health/art...ws-ageing-brain.html

Wikipedia article about the von Economo neuron:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindle_neuron

With my luck, I have the “von rolling coal” genetic variation.

Seems promising.

A small region in Japan has an abundance of Centarians. As does a town in Italy where it is normal for them to live healthy over 100. Wondering why they didn't go into further detail about where the test group had genetic ancestry or environment. Sure, everybody hopes for a long and healthy life.

Given the context of the research, Who is to say birds don't have the von Economo because their cranial architecture doesn't require it. New Caledonian Crows are said to be more intelligent and adaptive than most primates. By the same token, how many people read about Jim the wonder dog and think 'wish I could do that'?