Bullwhip

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Bullwhip

A bullwhip
Types	Whip, pastoral, hand tool
Used with	Livestock

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

Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country. 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.^[1] The bullwhip was rarely, if ever, used to strike cattle, as this could inflict damage to the animal.^{[citation needed]}

The bullwhip should not be confused with the stockwhip, an Australian whip also used to control livestock but having a somewhat different structure. The cracking sound is of a sonic boom. This is most likely the first item used by humans to go faster than the speed of sound.