NANNING, April 17 -- A chef has been detained in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on charges of poaching an endangered pangolin, local authorities said Friday.

The suspect, Long, posted pictures of the dead pangolin, and a wild cobra, on a social network site earlier this month.

Long confessed to Guangxi's regional forest police that he had killed the animals at Yunlong Hotel, Wuzhou City, where he works as a chef.

Pangolins, typically found in Africa and Asia, are under state protection in China. The mammals are often killed by poachers for their meat, and their scales sold as an ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.