Prisoners of Size?

In the short article Size and Shape the late paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould remembers how he once overheard a children’s conversation in a New York playground:  “Two young girls were discussing the size of dogs. One asked: “Can a dog be as large as an elephant?” Her friend responded: “No, if it were as big as an elephant, it would look like an elephant.” However, the more important question at this point is if an elephant can be as small as a dog.