Size isn't everything. The whale is endangered, while the ant continues to do just fine.

Vaughan’s aphorism uses a vivid ecological contrast to puncture the assumption that sheer magnitude guarantees security or success. The whale—immense, charismatic, and historically hunted—stands for entities whose prominence can make them targets and whose survival depends on fragile systems. The ant, tiny and easily overlooked, represents resilience through adaptability, numbers, and integration into its environment. The line works as a general lesson about power, institutions, or individuals: dominance can invite pressure and create dependencies, while modest scale can confer flexibility. It also hints at modern environmental awareness, where even the largest creatures can be imperiled by human activity.