A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather or nylon, designed as a tool for working with livestock or for competition cracking.

A bullwhip's length, flexibility, and tapered design allows it to be thrown in such a way that, toward the end of the throw, part of the whip exceeds the speed of sound—thereby creating a small sonic boom.

[citation needed] Instead, the whip was cracked near the animal to startle and guide them, encouraging movement in the desired direction.

There are claims that it was developed in South America where, like "cow-whips" during the slave trade, it was used as a weapon, or that it arrived there from Spain, but Roman mosaics[2] and earthenware[3] dating to around the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD show what appear to be tapered drop-lash whips, rather than the two-piece whips often associated with the Romans and other ancient cultures.

[4] During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as rural economies became increasingly mechanized, demand for all types of whips diminished.

In the later half of the 20th century, attempts to preserve traditional crafts, along with a resurgence of interest in Western performance arts and the release of films featuring whips, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark,[5] led to an increased interest in whip cracking as a hobby and performance art, as well as a competitive sport.

Made of many strips of leather or nylon, the number of braids or plaits is an important factor in the construction of the whip.

It was traditionally made to be replaceable due to the extreme stresses the very end of the whip was subjected to as it was "cracked".

It has been suggested that the frayed end of the cracker may cause more fibers to move at supersonic speeds, increasing the likelihood of a sonic boom.

[6][7] Crackers can be made of horsehair, twine, string, nylon, polypropylene, silk, polyester or any number of materials.

Some whip-crackers doing target work prefer a whip made of kangaroo skin and kangaroo hide is preferred by whip makers because it is many times stronger than cow hide and can be cut into fine, strong laces allowing for more intricate braiding patterns that could previously only be achieved with rawhide, which is much harder to work with.

Simon Tookoome, a Canadian Inuit and expert bullwhip handler, was known to have used one to hunt ptarmigans and caribou, and to kill a wolf: Tookoome took the advice to heart and began hunting bigger animals [than ptarmigans] with the whip, even after his family acquired a rifle and a snowmobile.