The invention discloses a bovine-derived characteristic polypeptide and application thereof as well as application of the bovine-derived characteristic polypeptide in detecting bovine-derived ingredients in leather and gelatin traditional Chinese medicine. An amino acid sequence of the characteristic polypeptide is GEGGPQGPR, and the polypeptide is unique in cattlehide collagen. Trypsin enzymolysis results of the collagen of different species are simulated by virtue of a peptidemass function provided by uniprot, the unique characteristic polypeptide sequence of the cattlehide collagen is obtained by comparing the collagen sequence of cattle and the collagen sequence of other species and is applied to the detection or identification of leather or gelatin. The method has the advantages of high characteristics, high sensitivity, simplicity in operation and the like, and can accurately identify whether a bovine-derived ingredient is contained in the gelatin traditional Chinese medicine.