Heartbroken elephant smashes 15 cars on motorway in China (video)

A wild elephant went on a Valentine's rampage in China after he lost the affections of a female to a male rival.

The animal wandered out onto a motorway from Ye Xiang Gu (Wild Elephant Valley) nature reserve in the Xishuangbanna prefecture and spent almost 20 minutes trampling 15 parked cars.

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A failed courtship caused the animal's unpredictable behaviour.

Local news outlets reported that the elephant, named Zhusunya, then disappeared from the area in search of food.

Tourists were warned to stay away from the site and nearby roads were closed.

Luckily, there were no injuries and tourists were excited to see the animal.

A government source told Associated Press: "The tourists were quite excited to see a real wild elephant, and they were using their cellphones to take photos and videos.

"Even the owners of some damaged cars found the experience to be thrilling and very interesting, although their cars got scraped."

The government added that the owners of the cars will be compensated.