The Museum of English Rural Life in Reading has found some unexpected internet fame, with its images of animals described as “absolute units” going viral on social media.

The museum and archive, devoted to the history of farming in the English countryside, has received hundreds of thousands of likes and retweets in just a few days after adopting meme culture and adding it to its social media output.

Tweeting a picture of a rather fluffy ram, along with the caption “look at this absolute unit”, the museum found itself trending worldwide on Twitter, something it has continued to take advantage of, posting more images of ‘absolute units’, along with memes about its other works to the delight of social media.

The original image, a photograph of an Exmoor Horn, taken during the Devon Show in 1962 has become an educational tool for the museum, which has leaned into the social media craze to educate and to entertain.

“When you’ve bred an impressive animal such as our absolute unit, how do you celebrate?,” asked the museum.

“As well as treating yourself to time off and a visit to your friendly local museum, you probably want to show off how good you are. So, you enter the animal in a show and allow it to compete against other animals.

“If you are still intrigued and want to find out more, we’ve got lots of livestock portraits on display in the museum. You are also very welcome to come and browse our amazing library and use our Reading Room to delve into our extensive photographic archives, absolute unit included.”

look at this absolute unit. pic.twitter.com/LzcQ4x0q38

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018

Can everyone please stop retweeting our absolute unit please our social media person only has an old samsung s5 and it is melting, thank you. #haveathought

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018

in awe at the size of this lad. pic.twitter.com/iycPRPjyed

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018

This is the ideal male body. You may not like it, but this is what peak peformance looks like. pic.twitter.com/jy5Wb3dMdM

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 7, 2018

us explaining to the Board how our thicc boi went viral pic.twitter.com/OyEtVatWCU

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 10, 2018

We made this handy guide to creating your own #AbsoluteUnit, we hope it is useful#givingback pic.twitter.com/e4QkWuQyTW

— The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 10, 2018