ORANGUTANS AMUSED BY MR BEAN

ORANGUTANS have a sense of humour but it is very poor, scientists have discovered.

'I like it when Mr Bean drives his little car'

Dr Nikki Hollis, head of animal humour studies at Cambridge University said the great apes lack sophistication and their jokes display a woeful lack of comic timing.

Some orangutans could raise a smile, she stressed, but most operated at a level only marginally higher than Brian Conley.

She said the apes were not strong on irony, and tended to concentrate on jokes about the terrible flatulence caused by a diet of tree bark and nits.

Dr Hollis said: “We showed them Mr Bean’s Holiday last week and they howled all the way through. They even laugh at Jack Dee.

"But when we gave them the box set of the second series of Curb Your Enthusiasm, one tried to eat it while another tried to wear it as a hat.”

Dr Hollis said female orangutans were the butt of many of the jokes, although the vast majority of their humour is directed against gorillas.

She added: “According to them gorillas are stupid drunks, who eat nothing but potatoes and believe in little people with large pots of gold.”

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