diff --git a/pyani/anim.py b/pyani/anim.py
index 77d0f025..23207aeb 100644
--- a/pyani/anim.py
+++ b/pyani/anim.py
@@ -135,7 +135,9 @@ def get_version(nucmer_exe: Path = pyani_config.NUCMER_DEFAULT) -> str:
     # version information appears in different places for
     # different nucmer releases
     if result.stderr:  # expected to work for <= MUMmer3
-        match = re.search(r"(?<=version\s)[0-9\.]*", str(result.stderr, "utf-8"))
+        match = re.search(
+            r"(?<=version\s)[0-9\.]*", str(result.stderr + result.stdout, "utf-8")
+        )
     elif result.stdout:  # expected to work for MUMmer4
         match = re.search(r"[0-9a-z\.]*", str(result.stdout, "utf-8"))