My science teacher told us that all mammals have round about the same number of genes. This confuses me, since there are very big and very small mammals. Where do genes come from and why do animals have such large differences in size between one another even if they have around the same amount of genes? Please answer in english

My science teacher told us that all mammals have round about the same number of genes. This confuses me, since there are very big and very small mammals. Where do genes come from and why do animals have such large differences in size between one another even if they have around the same amount of genes?