This video shows an endangered Siberian tiger cub getting its tongue stuck to a freezing-cold metal fence in sub-zero temperatures.

The animal, native to the Russian Far East, Northeastern China, and North Korea, can be seen approaching the metal fence covering the outer part of its enclosure at a zoo in China’s northernmost province of Heilongjiang.

But in a failed attempt to pick up a few frozen pieces of meat hanging from the fence, the greedy cub got its tongue stuck to the frozen metal for several seconds before finally pulling away and saving itself.

Confused over what had just happened, it then backed away and rejoined the rest of its group at the zoo.

The video became a massive hit on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, where it was liked more than 167,000 times and shared another 502,000 times after it was shared on Thursday, 14th December.

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Douyin user ‘Tian Tian’ said: “It hurts to look at.”

User ‘The custard burger is super delicious’ commented: “The bit of meat left on the fence will be left over for spring.”

And ‘Zihao Qianqian’ wrote: “Its mother certainly did not tell it that the metal outside should not be licked in winter!”

The Siberian tiger, also known as the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). Is the largest felid in the world and is listed as ‘endangered’ on IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species.

It was reportedly on the brink of extinction with fewer than 50 individuals remaining in the wild in the 1940s.

However, the most recent IUCN Red List assessment estimated there are up to 486 individuals in the Russian Far East. With a small number ranging across the border into China and North Korea.