"Admit it, this is you after Chinese New Year," says a viral social media post paired with pictures of chubby tigers at a tiger park near Harbin city in China's northernmost Heilongjiang province.

The Sina Weibo post was made on Feb 2, and shows portly tigers lazing at the Siberian Tiger Park.

The post has been shared more than 1,400 times, liked more than 9,400 times and drawn more than a thousand comments.

Among these were some asking if the animals were overfed.

The tigers reportedly pile on the pounds to keep away the cold during the harsh winters, according to the South China Morning Post in a report on Tuesday (Feb 7).

Temperatures in Harbin can drop to -38 deg C in January, with summer temperatures rising to just 20 deg C.

The tigers should slim down by summer, said SCMP.

However, the tigers were not always this plump, according to a report in December last year by Chinese newspaper Harbin Daily.

The creatures were trimmer before 2010, and the paper attributed their ballooning weight to an increase in visitors, who feed the tigers.