If you’re exploring the universe of No Man’s Sky and scanning all the flora and fauna you see, there’s a chance you’ll eventually come close to tagging all the animal species on a particular world. You may not actively be playing the game with an eye toward a so-called completion percentage, but it’s only natural to try to fill out your planetary Pokédex if you’re almost there.

Thing is, it’s often maddeningly difficult to find the last one or two animals on that list. You may spend an hour scouring a toxic, irradiated wasteland and never see a creature that isn’t already in your database.

That’s likely because you haven’t looked skyward or seaward.

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The procedurally generated biodiversity in No Man’s Sky makes room for flying beasts and sea creatures as well as land animals. So if you’re still searching, try thinking outside the box somewhat.

Of course, finding these creatures is only half the battle. You’ve got to tag them into your database with your multi-tool’s scanner. That may be easier said than done, depending on how they move. On my home planet, the seventh and final native animal was a birdlike creature that flew high enough and fast enough — with a zigzag path, to boot — to make it incredibly difficult to keep my scanner’s reticle trained on it long enough to tag it.

So I took the easy way out. I switched my multi-tool to the mining beam and shot down one of the flock with my laser.

Yes, your scanner can pick up corpses, too, so once the bird fell to the ground, I ran over and tagged it. I’m an environmentalist at heart, but I can make an exception to sate my completionist urges.

For more on No Man's Sky, read our impressions of its first 10 hours. You can also get more tips from our full guide to the game.