CHENGDU, China (Reuters Life!) - An American-born panda has traveled thousands of miles to his ancestral homeland in China's mountainous southwest just to find a bride.

After leaving his home in San Diego Zoo earlier this week, Mei Sheng, which means "Born in America", arrived on Wednesday in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, from where he will be taken to the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve.

The four-year-old is the first panda conceived naturally outside China and officials hoped he will bring more success to the country's panda breeding program in Wolong.

"This giant panda has great significance to us because he is the first panda to be by natural mating in the United States," said Li Desheng, vice director of the Wolong reserve.

"And he is the first offspring of his father Gao Gao, so he will play an important role in the expanding the hereditary bloodline of pandas in Wolong."

Mei Sheng was flown back to China in an iron cage stocked with water, apples and bamboo. He was later transferred to a smaller cage and placed in a truck for the road trip to Wolong.

Wolong officials said Mei Sheng had to be returned to China as part of a loan agreement with the United States.

Li said that once Mei Sheng reached Wolong, he would need a few months to adjust to the food and climate before he gets into the process of finding a mate.

"In terms of food, there is a difference between bamboo that he eats in the United States and what we have here in Wolong. And there is also a slight difference in the other kinds of food.

"Next, in terms of the living environment, San Diego has a warmer climate than us here. So he has to gradually adjust to the climate here," he added.

The giant panda is one of the world's most endangered species and is found only in China. An estimated 1,600 wild pandas live in nature reserves in Sichuan, Gansu and Shaanxi provinces.

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