Yeah, the exhibits in this, 1987 opened expansion of the zoo are really good. The serows has breed here very sucessfully, but I think, in the last years, they had bad luck with them...
This Japanese Serow exhibit blows the San Diego Zoo's grottoes out of the water, and San Diego should really bulldoze those ugly and old canyon enclosures.
I think Los Angeles zoo Japanese Serow exhibit is even better. There is so much vegitation that it's impossible to see the serows, the exhibit it's basically a forest. The exhibit is also on a hill, so the animals are constantly climbing. In all the time I've been there, I've only seen a Serow twice. The zoo also bred the serows in 2007 (or 2006?).
A zoo exhibit which makes it "impossible" to see the animal kept within isn't really perfect in regard to normal visitors-and constant climbing is not always optimal for animal joints, just as constant animal movement combined with steep areas increases the destruction of the soil (although the exhibit in LA is still rather intact in this regard)...Judging from my personal experience in LA this october, I somehow think that the densely-furred serows might prefer Berlin's colder winters...
About the breeding-why not read what Zebraduiker wrote above?
