Elon Musk has become known for engaging in peculiar online humour through social media

Elon Musk has engaged in a peculiar meme-based exchange with a museum after changing his Twitter image to a sheep.

The 47-year-old Tesla entrepreneur updated his profile picture to a snap of an Exmoor Horn Ram taken in Devon in 1962.

Last year the image became an internet hit after the Museum of English Rural Life shared the image with the caption 'Look at this absolute unit', a popular online saying.

The phrase 'absolute unit' - which Musk now uses to describe himself in his Twitter bio - is a complimentary way to describe large or intimidating people, animals or things, either sincerely or ironically.

The Museum of English Rural Life, a branch of the University of Reading, noted Musk's peculiar choice of display picture and tweeted at him saying: 'Excuse us @elonmusk but what'.

The account then changed their Twitter picture to one of the SpaceX CEO and altered its Twitter handle to 'The Muskeum of Elongish Rural Life'.

Elon Musk's account, pictured left, and the Twitter page for The Museum of English Rural Life, right, exchanged display pictures in a bizarre internet encounter

In April 2018 the museum tweeted out this picture of an Exmoor Horn Ram, labelling the animal an 'absolute unit' - an online phrase used to describe large or intimidating beings

Revealing the switch following Musk's picture change, the museum tweeted out a picture saying 'Two can play at this game', and the account later posted: 'Next step, The Museum of Mars Rural Life'.

The account also told the South Africa-born billionaire he could 'keep the absolute unit' as his profile picture as long as he came along to judge sheep at the Berkshire Show, adding that he could 'fire the winner into space'.

Adam Koszary, who runs the museum's Twitter page, told MailOnline: 'Elon likes memes and someone dared him to change his profile picture to the sheep.

'We figured if he was going to masquerade as our ram we were going to masquerade as him. Just silly really.'

When asked why he thought the 'absolute unit' ram tweet last year was such a success, he said: 'Because it really is an impressive ram, and people don't expect museums to be using memes like we do (and especially with a name likes ours).

The 'absolute unit' phrase is used to describe people or things that are noticeably large

'People just wanted to come together to celebrate an impressive ram.'

Mr Koszary, the Museum's Partnership Reading Programme Manager and Digital Lead, said the social media success of their platform has helped get people interested in English rural life.

'We've had more visitors and now a billionaire follows us,' he said, but added that he wished people would stop mistaking them for the real Elon Musk 'and asking us to send them free Teslas'.

Musk has a history of engaging in internet humour on his Twitter page, which he has used to proclaim his love of anime along with promoting his business ventures.

In February this year Musk featured as a guest host on Meme Review, a show created by popular YouTuber PewDiePie.

In March Musk released a bizarre rap song about Harambe - the gorilla who became a pop culture phenomenon after he was shot dead by Cincinnati Zoo officials when a three-year-old boy climbed into his enclosure in 2016.

The Tesla billionaire shared a link to the heavily auto-tuned track titled 'RIP Harambe' on Soundcloud, featuring lyrics such as 'We love you Harambe' and 'Sipping on some Bombay'.