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Sheep, rabbits and/or kangaroos could each be the cause of the hiatus in recruitment this century of western myall (Acacia papyrocarpa Benth.), a long-lived Australian arid-zone perennial tree which usually recruits about every 25 years. Research into this hiatus requires studying how seedlings are lost from the environment, but producing and field-placing seedlings is labour intensive. Question: can cut shoots (probes) from adult western myall plants be used as surrogates for seedlings? So far we have examined this for rabbits and sheep. Results indicate that while sheep show a significant preference for probes, rabbits appear not to discriminate between the two. Thus probes are not an acceptable surrogate in sheep experiments but they are in experiments with rabbits.