Q: Samson seems very well mannered. I’m curious, since he’s blind, how does he find his way about? Does he have an extra sense to make up for things or does he very politely bump into things here and there? I’m sure he’s got a suitable way of getting around but I like the idea of him bumping into bookshelf’s and furniture and apologizing like he just bumped into someone.
A: Samson is very friendly and doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body. His blindness is actually not total blindness; he can see light and darkness, but not form or color. But the slits on his face are a type of pit organ that allow him to "see" infrared heat signatures, similar to how snakes use their pits to hunt. It only really works on things that are close to him though; anything far away is just going to be a slightly lighter or darker blur.

So I decided to attempt to illustrate this! On the left is Marcelo, his handler, and then there are the various ways Samson can perceive him. The right is what his eyes see, which is just light and dark; in this case the room behind Marcelo is lighter than he is, so Samson sees a vague darker blur in front of him. On the bottom right is what his pit organs see, which is Marcelo's heat signature; the room behind him is dark because despite it being brighter than Marcelo, it isn't hotter than him. And in the bottom left is a vague approximation of what he sees when using both. A sort of overlay of the closest things to him being infrared, and the furthest away only being light/dark differentiation.

So it is definitely possible for him to bump into furniture, especially in a dark room, but he wouldn't think it was a living thing x)

Sorry if y'all were expecting a picture of Samson, but I used this as an excuse to make an updated portrait for Marcelo, since he's canonically Samson's handler/partner haha (and to finally figure out once and for all how/what Samson sees)

I have a CuriousCat if you wanna ask me questions and stuff.

Art, Marcelo, Samson © Scott Francis