The extreme speeds of cheetah

Question

how a biologist would explain how this adaptation of extreme speeds of cheetahs became established in the population, starting at the level of DNA and incorporating all aspects of the theory of evolution through the mechanism of natural selection.

Answer 1

Imagine a cheetah ancestor in the African savannah. This cat must compete with a variety of different other predators to succeed. So the cats that succeed the most are those that are either better than everyone else at capturing prey, or who can capture a specific prey that not many other predators can capture.

So the cheetah ancestors who have genes that increase their ability to rapidly sprint will be able to capture fast moving gazelle and impala ancestors. Those cheetah ancestors are more likely to be able to survive, pass on their genes to their offspring, and provide/support their offspring.

Over the course of millenia, random genetic mutations will occur producing more traits that allow cheetahs to run at extreme speeds. Those ancestors will continue to be more likely survive, and those traits will accumulate, becoming closer to the cheetahs we know today.