You may know that a few genetic mutations appear in every individual, most harmless or harmful, occasionally helpful.
Whether the same mutation can appear in more than one individual in a generation is speculation, but if it's helpful that would increase the chances of survival.
As for your cheetah's, wasn't it claimed some years ago that Tiger (Woods) is a cheetah, but that's a category of species transformation I'm not familiar with.
Are you?
;-)
I would have thought (like an “E” here) that this thread would have gone extinct by now, due to lack of diversity in it’s DNA: so few posters and repliers.