Wastage can be a Interesting Status Signal

In African Savannah, lions with more hair suffer a higher body temperature. To maintain the body temperature, the animal has to take food. Usually, the more the hair - the higher the body temperature - the more food the lion needs to maintain it.

So, if a female lion is out there, searching for someone to mate with, she is more likely to mate with lions that are more hairier than others. More hair says that the lion can afford to waste calories (food) spent in maintaining the body temperature. Therefore it's a superior mate to go after. So they have a significantly higher success rate on mating.

We see a same case in humans. If you see someone having 3 expensive cars, you're more likely to respect that person because he wastes money. Probably he does not rides all three of them.

May that not be your knowing intention, but its interesting to notice the human conditioning.

Wasting money is an Interesting status Signal.