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Cheetahs are the fastest living animals on land, they are not as big as other big wild cats but what they lack in size they make up for it in pace. Here is a mother Cheetah is grooming and licking her cub, the brush looking tiny dots are close up shot of what a Big Cats tongue looks like, and the reason why the cat family, both the big cats and the smaller ones are fastidious groomers. The tiny barbs covering cats tongue are called papillae, it helps get rid of dirt, and helps to evenly distribute sebum(an oily secretion produced by the sebaceous gland) all over their coats/skin. This sebum lubricates and makes their body shiny and sometimes water resistance to some extent.


Humans have sebum too, hence cats generally, both the big wild ones and the smaller domesticated ones don't just groom to be clean, the endless grooming also prevents matting as well as removes parasites and loosed hairs.


Adult cats like panthers, Cheetahs, Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Pumas and so on spend half of an average day grooming, their salivas in some way helps them cool down on hot sunny days since they have no sweat glands. So when you see a cat lickings its fur, its beyond just cleaning, it is done to regulate their body heats and also to remove parasites from their furs as well as coat their body with some secreted oils which further serves as territory markings and to know a clan/pride member from an intruder.