It is extremely rare to see killer whales moving at high speeds in the wild. This animal can reach speeds in excess of 30 mph if necessary, but you usually only see them slowly traveling at around 5 mph. They conserve their energy. Over 35 years and thousands of whales, I'd only seen these beautiful creatures move quickly one other time...feeding. So, when I saw these three racing around at high speeds about 1/2 mile from me I knew something special was happening. When I pulled up to them I saw it was a female and her two children chasing a large harbor seal. She was teaching them how to catch one. She would catch it... flip it in the air 20-30ft and the other two would take turns catching it. They did this for about 15 minutes then slowly wandered off leaving the frightened (and slightly beaten up) seal mostly unharmed. I guess they weren't hungry this particular day.