perception by an animal when in contact with a solid object. Two types of receptors (receptor) are common: tactile hairs and subcutaneous receptors.

Many animals, including some coelenterates, annelid worms, insects and many other arthropods, birds, and mammals, have hairs or hairlike projections richly supplied with nerves and serving to indicate to the animal that it is in contact with some object. Such hairs may be specially modified (e.g., vibrissae, or whiskers) in certain areas of the body, such as the face or toes, to provide more sensitive discrimination among stimuli.

A second type of touch receptor, the subcutaneous receptor, lies in the skin. Receptors of this type are found in nearly all animals and may consist of free nerve endings or complex corpuscles. See also mechanoreception; thermoreception.